25/09/2026
The beauty of Penicuik.📯
Of all the unexpected things that have happened to me since changing my career to guiding three years back, becoming the tour guide at Penicuik Estate has to be among the most exciting - and enlightening.
This dome can be found on the top of the former stable block which is now Penicuik House. It was built by Sir James Clerk, third baronet, in the 1760’s as an exact replica of the Roman temple of Arthur’s O’on, so beloved by his father the great Sir John Clerk. The march of industry destroyed that part of Roman heritage, leaving Sir John distraught. His son paid an architectural tribute to his father when building this stable, as well as nearby Palladian mansion Penicuik House. The Clerk family loved beauty and antiquity (the statue under the dome came from the Grand Tours of cultural Europe), but were also practical and smart so James also made it a doocot, supplying meat through the winter. Carved into the stone are words ‘where suit was paid by blast of bugle free’, the writing of Sir Walter Scott, friend of the family and ubiquitous storyteller of Scotland. The words refer to Robert The Bruce hunting in the woods here, a tradition the Penicuik Hunter & Lass still pays tribute to at the start of each common riding season.
Penicuik House burned down in 1899 but the then laird Sir George and his redoubtable wife Lady Aymee (Napier) Clerk took the decision to remodel the stable block into a family home, which it was for over a century. Today it hosts weddings, corporate events, family gatherings and I am fortunate enough to share the incredible story of over 370 years of the Clerk family with guests who come to stay. What a privilege 🙂
