On the A701 lies Penicuik (pronounced 'Pennycook irrespective of its spelling), a town in Midlothian, Scotland with a population of around 15,700. Set 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 regional industry were its famous paper mills, with the last of these closing down in 2004. The town name, Penicuik, is stemmed 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 very first occasion of the reference of the town was in 1296. Thomas Rymer's text Foedera speaks about a 'Walter Edgar a person Penicok south of Edenburgh', and is what the town's name evolved from and into today's spelling. Pennycook, another step on the ladder of Penicuik's spelling evolution, appears on John Adair's map from 1862. Nevertheless, in the background of the town itself, full expansion began when the Cowan family arrived around 1770, and brought the industry of their paper mill. This brought the need for houses for employees, leading to general population increasing to 1,700 by 1800. Penicuik was additionally used as the site of a prison camp for soldiers from the French Napoleonic wars, however in our current day, it is presently the site of a housing development. Nevertheless, a monument dated back to 1830 pays tribute to the 309 prisoners who died there through the years 1811-1814. For all your house upgrades, make certain to make use of trustworthy experts in Penicuik to make certain of quality.