Dalhousie, Edinburghshire

Historical Description

DALHOUSIE, a village, in the parish of COCKPEN, county of EDINBURGH, 1 mile (W.) from Cockpen; containing 99 inhabitants. It is a small and straggling place, situated south of the road between Cockpen and Lasswade. The neighbourhood is distinguished as having been the seat, for many generations, of the noble family of Ramsay, whose baronial mansion of Dalhousie Castle stands on the banks of the South Esk, which flows at a few yards distance from the walls. It is of great antiquity, but has lost much of its former venerable aspect, having undergone many alterations from time to time, and been much modernised by the late Earl of Dalhousie. This illustrious nobleman and gallant officer, who rendered important services to his country through a brilliant military career in various parts of the globe, died at the castle in March 1838, in his sixty-eighth year, and was succeeded by his only surviving son, James Andrew, the tenth and present earl, governor-general of India, created Marquess of Dalhousie of Dalhousie Castle and of the Punjaub in 1849.