Location type

Works

Name and dates

Rosslyn Gunpowder Works (1804-1954)

Served by the Rosslyn Gunpowder Mills.

Description

This works was located south of Roslin on both banks of the River North Esk. The works were not directly served by rail and had their own internal narrow gauge railway system.

The Ordnance Survey Name Book described the works

An extensive powder manufacture worked by water. The property of Messrs Hay Merricks & Co.

A stone built gunpowder store was located above the works in Roslin Glen to the north. This is now Gunpowder Cottage.

Potassium nitrate and limestone were delivered by rail and the Peebles Railway of 1855 had a stone built store near their Rosslyn [Peebles Railway] station. This station was to the south and uphill from the works.

In 1872 the slightly better placed Rosslyn [Penicuik Railway] station of the Penicuik Railway opened. This station was not quite so far south and had a goods yard on the ground above the works. See the Rosslyn Castle entry. Where the line ran above the works the railway was placed in a Spark Arrester tube.

The siding for the works was later known as the ICI Nobel siding.

The works closed in 1954. The Penicuik Railway closed in 1967.

The remains of blast walls and buildings can still be found in the glen. The footpaths, roads and tramlines are now a very pleasant walkway.

Local

Roslin Glen Country Park

Tags

Gunpowder works

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
02/08/2020

Nearby stations Rosslyn Castle Rosslynlee Rosslynlee Hospital Halt Auchendinny Roslin Glencorse Rosewell and Hawthornden Eskbridge Polton Pomathorn Halt Penicuik [2nd] Loanhead Lasswade Bonnyrigg Broomieknowe	Tin Tunnel Rosslyn Carpet Factory Firth Viaduct Old Woodhouselee Tunnel Roslin Colliery Dalmore Mill Auchendinny Tunnel Auchendinny Viaduct Glencorse Viaduct Glencorse Tunnel Tourist/other Roslin Castle Rosslynlee Hospital Rosslyn Chapel Firth Crossing Glencorse Barracks
Location names in dark blue are on the same original line.