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 in between Edinburgh and Peebles, the settlement was built as a planned village in 1770 by Sir James Clerk of Penicuik, becoming a burgh in 1867. Its initial regional industry were its popular paper mills, with the last of these closing down in 2004. The town name, Penicuik, is originated from 'Pen Y Cog', meaning directly, 'Hill of the Cuckoo' in Ancient British. The town does have its overseas links, and is twinned with the town of L'îsle-sur-la-Sourge in France. The very first instance of the mention of the town was in 1296. Thomas Rymer's text Foedera discusses a 'Walter Edgar a person Penicok south of Edenburgh', and is exactly what the town's name developed 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. However, 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 additionally used as the site of a prison camp for soldiers from the French Napoleonic wars, but in our current day, it is presently 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 of your house upgrades, make sure to make use of trusted experts in Penicuik to make certain of quality.