#loanhead

Man, boy and horse.

This statue in my hometown of Loanhead is a nod to the mining community that once thrived here, and in the surrounding areas.

The work is acreditted to an Alan Herriot, on of Scotland's finest sculptors, his most famous creations, in my opinion are The Commando Monument, Speak Bridge and the Robert The Bruce statue at Marishal College in Aberdeen, so it is a big honour that Loanhead has one of his pieces of art, his other statues include Wojtek, in Princes Street Gardens, Robert Louis Stevenson at Colinton as well as work across the Europe in France, Holland, Belgium and Norway.

The statue here was unveiled in 1987 and was commissioned by Loanhead and District Community Council.

The Viaduct 

We only ever called this The Viaduct, it’s called the Bilston Viaduct of Bilston Glen Viaduct and we used to scamper across the girders here as bairns, we were fearless back then, the middle section has a drop of about 140 feet. We used the diagonal sections going up and down as slides.  We threw rope we had “found” over parts of it and had our very own swing! What a place for a playground! 

This replaced an earlier bridge that was designed by a guy called Thomas Bouch? Bouch designed the ill fated Tay Bridge that collapsed as a train crossed it in 1879. All bridges designed by him were examined after the disaster and there is speculation that is why this bridge went up in 1892, the first one was less than 20 years old.

Historic Scotland say that there may have been a wooden bridge here before the 1873 bridge was built to take trains over what was the Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin Railway line. The railway lost its passenger service in 1933 and the viaduct was abandoned with the loss of mineral traffic on the line following the closure of Moat Colliery in 1969, the track was lifted the bridge was shut even to walkers with it being boarded up at either end. It didn't stop us using it though!

This is now part of a network of paths criss-crossing Midlothian and takes you over to Roslin. 

I used to play on this when I was a bairn

Built in 1934 it sent time around a few collieries in Edinburgh and the Lothians, ending up at Bilston Glen at my hometown Loanhead, in 1965, the year I was born!

  Eventually it reached the end of the line, literally up at the Dryden Woods end of their rail track in the early 70's until the pit shut in 1988.

It's now at Pittencrieff park in in Dunfermline,

Click on the link to get full details on the engine. 

Great-greats #1: George Meek Penman

Shortly before my dad passed away (Dec. 3, 2016) I asked him to do a Y-DNA test so we could learn a little more about our Penman line. Sadly, by the time we got the results, he was very close to the end and I don’t know if he understood what I told him. Nothing totally shocking, but he does belong to an unusual haplogroup for western Europeans - G, subgroup M-201. This is more commonly found in Turkey, Iran, and especially Georgia and the Caucasus Mountain region. So we are literally Caucasian! lol. Anyway, I’m trying to do a series on my 2nd great grandparents - the only generation for which I know the names of each forebear. 

So this rather severe looking gent is my great-great grandfather George Meek Penman. I always thought it was a weird middle name, but it is actually a nice story. 

Stats on George: 

Born 27 February 1884 in Loanhead, Midlothian, Scotland. He is the youngest of 7 children born to Thomas Penman and Susan Sneddon. 

The story of his middle name is that it is the last name of his father’s step father. Thomas Penman’s dad, William Penman, died in an accident in 1851, when Thomas was just four years old. The intervening years are light on documentation... his mother may have remarried a man named John Armour (possibly having another son names Samuel - its a bit of a mystery.) However, around 1856 she married George Meek, and stayed married to him, having 4 more children with him. Thomas would have been about 10 when they married. I find it sweet that Thomas ended up naming his youngest son after his stepfather. It must have been at least a decent relationship to warrant that. 

Census/Residence: 

1891: Son, age 7, Scholar, Liberton, Midlothian

1901: Son, age 17, Coal Miner, Beath, Fife

1930: Head,  age 46, Tile Setter, Philadelphia, PA

Married Catherine Robertson Henderson on 8 September 1905 at the United Free Church in Dunfermline, Fife. 

George and Catherine had one son - Peter Henderson Penman - my great-grandfather Pop Pop Pete. He was born in 1908. 

George was also a Master Mason in the Scottish Rite Temple. 

In 1923, the entire family emigrated to the United States. I find no record of what prompted the move, so that is a mystery as of yet. On my personal family tree, this is the most recent immigrant family to the US. He finally got his naturalization papers on 9 July 1941 while he was still living in Philadelphia.

At some point he moves across the country to Los Angeles, CA. I need to check with my aunts and uncles to see if they know when or why this happened. I know that my parents moved to California while my mom was pregnant with me (1976) along with my grandparents. Peter and his wife Kathleen (great-grandparents) had already moved out there. I don’t know if this happened at the same time as George and Catherine moving out there.

George and Catherine both died in 1964 in Los Angeles, CA. George was 80 at the time. I’m curious to know exactly how closely they died, and why. Haven’t uncovered that bit yet either. 

So there he is, my great-great grandfather, George Meek Penman. Coal mining child, immigrant, youngest of seven, father of one. 

Dryden Tower,