Roslin Glen Cottages
Roslin Glen has a special place in Scottish history as the scene of an almost-secret battle in the Scottish Wars of Independence, hushed-up a bit probably because it featured the Comyns rather than the eventually-victorious Bruces. It is also the site of Rosslyn Chapel and Castle (Roslin and Rosslyn are alternative spellings), the Chapel becoming world-famous as a result of The Da Vinci Code book and film. It has a special place in our Family History as well from the time when David Old moved from Leith to Roslin to make barrels in the new Gunpowder Works in The Glen. It's unclear exactly when he moved as he is listed as living in Lasswade (Roslin's parish) in his marriage banns but there is no census record to say where he was before that. His son Allan lived in the area all his life apart from a few years a few miles away in Lasswade and his grandson, also Allan, was born and lived in Roslin as well. Our branch of the family finally left around 1900 although other branches remained. The following website gives some detail of the town and its background. http://roslinvillage.com/history-heritage/. Did you know that Dolly the Sheep and the drink Bovril also hailed from Roslin?
The town of Roslin sits above the glen as do the Chapel and Castle but down in a loop of the river on low-lying flat ground lay the Rosslyn Glen Cottages inhabited by our forebears and the carpet factory which provided employment for some. Before moving to the cottages they seem to have lived in the town itself although where exactly is unclear. The gunpowder works were in the glen but to the west of any inhabitation due to the possibility of, and actual occurences of, explosions. The cooperage is still standing though in private lands. There are some Old family headstones in the graveyard beside the Chapel though none of our direct line.
This 1854 map shows the location of the gunpowder works in the glen. The Barrelworks is at the bottom left. The building still stands today.
Following the glen north and east we get to the loop in the river below the castle and chapel. The cottages still hadn't been built at this stage and our family members probably stayed in the village at the top of the map.
This old photo shows the initial few cottages
In the 1895 map of the same area the rest of the cottages have been built as has a carpet factory which provided employment to family members.
The newer cottages are shown in the following photo. Sadly, there is no trace at all of the old cottages nowadays.
A Collection of images from the old Gunpowder Works shows a couple of images of the barrel works, outside and inside but from relatively recent dates, probably just before the closure in 1954.
There is also a photo from the later half of the nineteenth century showing workers and there is just a slim chance that David Old could be in it although his birth in 1800 suggests that he would be pretty old by then. He lived to 85 and there is no mention in any record of him being retired so we don't know how long he worked on.
Click the image for a slightly larger version.
Going by the fashions, such as caps, beards and shawls, compared to other photos of the time I would estimate this to be between 1860 and 1870 although fashions for the working classes didn't change much over quite a period. This would make David Old between 60 and 70 if he was in the photo. I'd love to think he was number 1 below or even number 2 but probably not number 3.
The Rosslyn Chapel is world-famous and rightly so as the interior is unique, certainly in a Scottish context. I was told that my great-grandfather Allan sung in the choir there but I wouldn't be certain of that as the Chapel has been Scottish Episcopal since it reopened for worship in 1861 and our family has always been Church of Scotland as far as I know.
The castle keep is now mainly a ruin although the living quarters have been restored and available as holiday lets.
This is an artist's impression of how it may have looked in its heyday. It certainly is in an impressive position and worth a wander round to appreciate the steep approaches.
We had no idea of this connection with Rosslyn when we named our first daughter Rosalyn but it seems appropriate now.