Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/680

658 658 EDINBURGH of Morton (Dalmahoy), 8944 ; G. K. E. Fairholm, 6200 ; Charles Cowan (Loganhouse), 5677 ; John Borthwiek (Crookston), 5239. The duke of Buecleuch s property, though comprising only 3541 acres, is the highest on the valuation roll (28,296), with the ex ception of that of the railway companies. Minerals. Though not a mining district par excellence, Mid-Lothiau possesses a considerable amount of mineral wealth. There are 19 colleries, which in 1876 employed 2179 persons and raised 715,803 tons of coal. With the exception of 90,000 tons raised in the parish of West- Calder, this was all obtained in the valley of the Esk. In its general character the coal does not differ from ordinary Scotch coal ; but a large quantity of the best cannel coal, used for making gas, is procured at Niddrie Colliery, and from the marquis of Lothian s mines at Newbattle and Dalkeith. The depth of the pits varies from 50 to 180 fathoms. On the east side of the Esk the strata lie at an angle of from 10 to 14&quot; ; those on the west side, at Niddrie andGilinerton, at from 60 to 90. Of blackband ironstone about 61,262 tons were raised in 1876, principally in the parishes of Lasswade and Peuicuik; and 25,172 tons of fire-clay were obtained in the county. In the vicinity of West-Calder there is a large amount of shale, containing from 20 to 30 gallons of oil per ton. The extraction of the oil by distillation in retorts was introduced about 1862. About 258,278 tons were raised in 1876. Limestone is of frequent occurrence : at Esperton in the south; at Cousland, Crichton, Burdiehouse, and Gilmerton, near Edinburgh; at the Camps, in Kirknewton parish; and at Muireston and Levenseat, still further west. Freestone is quarried at Craigleith, Redhall, Hailes, and Craigmillar. From Craigleith was obtained the greater part of the stone for the new town of Edinburgh ; Hailes furnishes an ex cellent material for pavements and stairs ; and Craigmillar has been appropriated by the builders of the new docks at Leith. Barnton Mount supplies large blocks of whin- stone, which have been exported to England for docks, and even to Russia, for fortifications ; the causeway stones for the streets of Edinburgh are mainly procured from the quarries at Ratho ; and a large number of smaller quarries for the supply of road-metal are scattered throughout the county. Manufactures. 1 Owing its origin no doubt to the development of literature and publishing in the metropolis, the chief manufacturing industry in Mid-Lothian is paper- making. There are 22 paper mills in the county, most of them large and extensive works ; and their aggregate annual production is 18,500 tons of writing and printing, and 5000 tons of coloured and wrapping paper. The most important mills, some of them dating from the beginning of the last century, are situated on the North Esk between Penicuik and Musselburgh, all producing writing and printing papers; while on the South Esk at Newbattle coloured papers are manufactured. On the Water of Leith there are eight separate mills, as well as one near Mid-Calder, and another at Portobello. An ancient vat-mill, called Peggy s Mill, still exists at Cramond, producing hand-made hosiery papers, &c. There is a carpet factory on the Esk at Roslin; and the well-known establishment at Lasswrde, where velvet-pile and tapestry carpet was produced under Whytock s patent, is now removed to Bonnington. The manufacture of gunpowder is also carried on at Roslin, the works being distributed in the recesses formed by the sudden bends of the river. The Fushiebridge works have been discontinued. Iron foundries exist at Dalkeith, AVestfield, Loanhead, Penicuik, Millerhill, and the suburbs of Edinburgh ; brick and tile-works at Portobello, Millerhill, Newbattle, Bonnyrigg, and Rosewell ; and candle works at 1 From this enumeration the manufactures of the city are ex cluded. Dalkeith and Loanhead. Leather also is manufactured at Dalkeith. Besides the Scottish metropolis, the county contains the following towns and villages : Leith and Granton, both flourishing seaports; Portobello, a watering-place about three miles to the east ; Musselburgh, an agricultural and fishing town near the mouth of the Esk ; Dalkeith, a market-town and borough of barony ; Corstorphine, with a convalescent hospital and an ancient collegiate church con taining several tombs of the Forrester family, who became possessors of the fee in 1371 ; Ratho, erected in 140-4 into a principality for the eldest son of the Scottish king ; Cramond, formerly a place of much more importance than now; Mid-Calder, with a church of considerable antiquity, adorned with the armorial bearings of the Sandilands family; 2 West-Calder, Balerno, Currie, Juniper Green, and Colinton, all manufacturing villages ; Liberton, deriving its name from the lepers who once were its principal inhabitants ; Gilmerton, mainly inhabited by coal-miners and carters ; Lasswade, Loanhead, Roslin, and Penicuik. The population of the entire county in 1871 was 328,379, of whom 153,892 were males and 174,487 females. Excluding the boroughs of Edinburgh, Leith, Portobello, and Musselburgh, the population of the county proper numbered in 1851, 57,843 persons, and in 1871, 74,126, indicating an increase of 28 per cent, within that period. This increase occurs principally in the parishes of West- Calder, Lasswade, Colinton, Dalkeith, and Kirknewton. Antiquities. It is believed that Cramond was once a Roman seaport ; and various objects of Roman art have been discovered in the vicinity and upwards along the bank of the Almond. On several heights are remains of early military works the most important being that on Dalmahoy Hill, Braidwood Castle in the parish of Penicuik, and the so-called Castle Greg on the Harburn estate in Mid-Calder parish. &quot; Eirdehouses &quot; have been discovered at Crichton Mains, at Borthwick Castle, near Middleton House, &c., the first being especially in teresting from the fact that some of the stones bore the marks of Roman masonry. There are hut-circles and a hill fort on Kaimes Hill, near Ratho ; a large tumulus, with three upright stones, at Old Listen ; a smaller tumulus at Newbattle ; a kistvaen at Carlowrie ; and standing stones at Lochend, at Comiston (the Caiy stone), and several other places. The most remarkable of all per haps is the &quot; Cat Stane,&quot; on the Brigs farm near Kirkliston, which, according to an ingenious hypothesis of Sir James Young Simpson, marks the burial place of the grandfather of Hengist and Horsa. (See Proceedings of the Anti quarian Society of Scotland, 1855, 1873, 1875.) The following are among the most interesting of the residential and ecclesiastical buildings in Mid-Lothian, not within the limits of the larger towns and villages. Roslin Chapel, founded by the St Clairs in 1446, is one of the most highly decorated specimens of Gothic architecture in Scotland, and presents a remarkable combination of peculi arities. Roslin Castle, the seat of the St Clairs, is a fine ruin, occupying a peninsular rock on the banks of the Esk, and must have been a very strong position before the days of cannon. Hawthornden, a little further down the stream, is interesting as the residence in the 17th century of Drummond the poet, as well as for the strange caves in the rock on which it is built. Dalhousie Castle, the seat of the earl of Dalhousie, is a modernized building of castellated style on the banks of the South Esk ; and Newbattle Abbey, the seat of the marquis of Lothian, occupies the site of the ancient Cistercian monastery a few miles down the stream. Craigmillar Castle is a fine ruin on a knoll three 2 See Proc. of Scot. Antiq. Sac.. 1862.