Old Photograph Church Street Loanhead Scotland

Old photograph of a shop, church, houses. horse and cart and people on Church Street in Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland. This Scottish town was granted a charter allowing a weekly market and annual fair in 1669. Coal was mined profitably in the area for Sir John Clerk of Penicuik by 1685. The Springfield paper mill, in the valley of the River North Esk to the south of the town, commenced in 1742, while Polton mill followed in 1750. By 1754 Loanhead was a medium sized village. The limestone industry was a source of employment by the late eighteenth century. The coal industry continued to expand and by 1874 the town was linked to the railway. Shale was mined between Loanhead and Burdiehouse in the late nineteenth century, from 1880 under the Clippens Oil Company of Paisley, by Glasgow.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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