Author : Winnie Stevenson & Veronica Meikle, Roslin Heritage Society ISBN : 9781840332735 Cover : paperback Price : £11.95
Believed to have been founded in AD 199, it was the establishment of the world-famous Rosslyn Chapel in 1446 which really put Roslin on the map in the late mediaeval period. However, it fell into disuse in 1592 and it was not until the mid-1800s that it was used again. Its reopening coincided with industrial expansion within the area and the village's gunpowder and bleaching factories became household names. The area also benefited from coal mining, particularly at Bilston Glen which was one of the last NCB pits in Scotland to close. The sixty photographs in this book range in date from the 1870s to the 1940s, the high watermark of the village's indigenous prosperity before it became a dormitory satellite of Edinburgh. Sights of the era include horse-trams on the Main Street, gypsies on the common, the village smithy, Bryce's draper's shop, Hay's Cash Stores, John Wilson's fruiterer's van, the Craigathie Tearooms, a gala parade (the galas stopped in 1962), curling on the deep pond, the horse-plough at work at Roslin Farm, not to mention the gunpowder mill itself. The photographs – most very rare and previously unpublished – have been specially drawn together for this book from many private sources and are accompanied by a full history of the village by members of the local Heritage Society.
