On the A701 lies Penicuik (pronounced 'Pennycook in spite of its spelling), a town in Midlothian, Scotland with a population of around 15,700. Located between Edinburgh and Peebles, the settlement was created as a planned village in 1770 by Sir James Clerk of Penicuik, becoming a burgh in 1867. Its original 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 global links, and is twinned with the town of L'îsle-sur-la-Sourge in France. The first instance 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 progressed from and into today's spelling. Pennycook, another step on the ladder of Penicuik's spelling progression, 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 demand 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 present day, it is presently the site of a housing development. Nevertheless, a monument dated back to 1830 celebrates the 309 detainees who died there during the years 1811-1814. For all of your home upgrades, make certain to make use of reliable professionals in Penicuik to make certain of quality.