On the A701 lies Penicuik (pronounced 'Pennycook in spite of its spelling), a town in Midlothian, Scotland with a population of around 15,700. Situated between Edinburgh and Peebles, the settlement was established as a planned village in 1770 by Sir James Clerk of Penicuik, ending up being a burgh in 1867. Its initial local industry were its well-known paper mills, with the last of these winding up in 2004. The town name, Penicuik, is derived from 'Pen Y Cog', meaning directly, 'Hill of the Cuckoo' in Ancient British. The small town does have its international links, and is twinned with the town of L'îsle-sur-la-Sourge in France. The first instance of the acknowledgment of the town was in 1296. Thomas Rymer's text Foedera points to a 'Walter Edgar a person Penicok south of Edenburgh', and is what the town's name progressed from and into today's spelling. Pennycook, another step on the ladder of Penicuik's spelling development, appears on John Adair's map from 1862. Nevertheless, in the background of the town itself, full expansion commenced when the Cowan family arrived around 1770, and brought the industry of their paper mill. This brought the need for houses for workers, resulting in general population increasing to 1,700 by 1800. Penicuik was also used as the site of a prison camp for soldiers from the French Napoleonic wars, however in our present day, it is currently the site of a housing development. Nevertheless, a monument dated back to 1830 honours the 309 detainees who died there through the years 1811-1814. For all your house upgrades, make certain to make use of reputable specialists in Penicuik to make certain of quality.