Valleyfield Monument.

The Community Development Trust has asked me, for some inexplicable reason, to produce some pictures for postcards; the first request is for one of the Monument. It commemorates the deaths of French POWs from the Napoleonic wars, who were highly regarded in the neighbourhood. I know very little about them, but they did produce some amazing craft work using primitive tools. Alexander Cowan, philanthropist and founder of the local paper-making industry which bore his name, commissioned the monument. Cowan's first wife, Elizabeth, died at the age of 38 having provided him with eleven children; his second, Helen, was a bit of a wimp, only managing nine. Penicuik does now have quite a large population.

The memorial has been renovated and made a focal point in the housing estate built on the sites of the Valleyfield Paper Mill and the nearby railway station

The inscription reads:
“The mortal remains of 309 prisoners of war, who died between 18th March 1811 and 26th July 1814 are intered near this spot.”
“Grata quies patriae; sed et omnis terra sepulcrum” 
(Tis pleasing for a man's remains to rest in his own country: and yet, for a tomb, every land suffices.”)
“Certain inhabitants of this parish,desiring to remember that all men are brethren, caused this monument to be erected in the year 1830.”