Penicuik House

The 18th-century palladian mansion (at NT2172659208) was built on the site of an earlier house by Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet.

It was destroyed by fire in 1899 and a major restoration, stabilising the ruin, was completed in 2014 by G Brown Stonemasons.

Now a roofless shell, it is constructed of ashlar, it has a central hexastyle portico with two-way stair, piano nobile, basement and Palladian windows.

The house was a great meeting place for figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, who came to view its collection of paintings, including a noted ceiling painting of Ossian's Hall and four scenes from the life of Saint Margaret by Alexander Runciman.

[6][7] The deliberate destruction of Arthur's O'on so appalled Sir James Clerk, that in 1760 he decided to have a dovecote built, as an exact replica of the temple, on his stable block at Penicuik House.