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Cockpen

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A parish in the East of Edinburghshire, containing at its North West corner the village of Bonnyrigg (2 miles South West of Dalkeith), and also the villages or hamlets of Hunterfield, Poltonhall, Prestonholm, and Westhall with part of Lasswade. It is bounded West and North by Lasswade, North East and East by Newbattle, and South by Carrington. The South Esk, entering the parish from the South, intersects it for nearly 1½ miles; traces afterwards part of its boundary with Newbattle, receiving there Dalhousie Burn; and the North Esk flows, for a brief distance, along the Lasswade border. The land-surface is flattish, though rising southward from less than 200 to over 400 feet above sea-level; it exhibits everywhere a rich and highly-cultivated aspect, and along the banks of the stream is often singularly picturesque.

(Extract from Groomes Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland

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Cemeteries

Monumental inscriptions for Cockpen can be found at the Local Studies Centre in Loanhead.

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Church Records

The parish church has records for birth dating from 1690, for marriages from 1747 and for deaths from 1747. These are held in the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh and copies on microfilm may be consulted in the Midlothian Studies Centre in Loanhead and also in LDS Family History Centres around the world.

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Description & Travel

You can see pictures of Cockpen which are provided by:

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Gazetteers

The transcription of the section for Cockpen from the National Gazetteer (1868) provided by Colin Hinson.

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Maps

You can see maps centred on OS grid reference NT319633 (Lat/Lon: 55.858317, -3.089208), Cockpen which are provided by:

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Poor Houses, Poor Law

Following the Poor Law Act of 1843, the parish joined the Dalkeith Combination to provide poor relief in the Dalkeith Poorhouse.

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Statistics

For a social and economic record of the parishes of Mid Lothian together with considerable statistical material, see Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, which was compiled in the 1790s. Follow-up works to this were the New Statistical Account (also known as the Second Statistical Account) which was prepared in the 1830s and 1840s; and more recently the Third Statistical Account which has been prepared since the Second World War.

Thanks to a joint venture between the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh the First and Second Statistical Accounts can now be accessed on-line at The Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 1791-1799 and 1845.