The first Olds to live in Midlothian were Coopers

Our great (x4) grandfather, Honyman Oal was born in “The Bog” in the parish of Bower in Caithness and baptised on 28 June 1776. By 31 May 1799, he was known as Honeyman Old, and he married Elder Samuel in Leith, where he worked as a cooper. A second cousin, John Oal, owned Bowertower distillery in Caithness and it is possible that Honeyman learned his trade making whisky barrels before finding gainful employment around the docks at Leith where barrels would always be needed.

Honeyman’s eldest son David, named after Honeyman’s father, was born in Leith on 27 March 1800, but by 06 July 1826, when his banns were proclaimed with Jane Walters, he was living in Low Calton in Edinburgh. However the banns were read in Lasswade parish in Midlothian. Like his father, David Old was a journeyman cooper. (In trades there were three ranks, an apprentice, a journeyman, and a master). An apprentice worked for his board and lodging, but a journeyman earned a daily wage, hence the name.

David Old lived at Roslin from his marriage until his death in 30 July 1885. But where was he employed? Who needed barrels in Roslin? My distant cousin and fellow researcher, Allan Old had the answer:

“He was a cooper or barrel-maker like his dad but swapped the location of the docks for the calmer and prettier Rosslyn Glen. It was more dangerous though as he was making barrels for gunpowder and there were explosions on site from time to time. The works were established to supply gunpowder during the Napoleonic Wars but Britain never seemed to be short of a war in the eighteenth century. His cooperage still stands at the south-west limits of the now-ruined gunpowder works, in use as a sawmill.“

Photos of Roslin Glen

The Cooperage

Photos of the Workers at Roslin Gunpowder Mill

Our great (x3) grandfather David Old was working at Roslin Glen gunpowder mill – or at least at the cooperage – in 1860 and 1863 when the above photos were taken so it seems possible that he is is one or both photos.

David’s son, William, our great (x2) grandfather originally worked as a cloth bleacher, but he was also working at the gunpowder factory as a powder maker from at least 19 March 1858, so he too may be in the photos.

A book by Iain MacDougall entitled “Oh! Ye Had To Be Careful” stressed the dangers of gunpowder production – the reason the factory was down in the glen with thick-walled and partially buried buildings.

Indeed, accidents did happen, as a report in August 1872 from The Mercury, as far away as Hobart, Tasmania revealed, when James Nisbet, George Benson, and John Henderson, three workers at the Roslin Powder Works were killed during an explosion.

The Old Gravestone in Roslin kirkyard

William was not the last of the line to work at Roslin gunpowder works, but he was the last to be buried in Roslin. His son, John Craig Old, our great grandfather, who was born at 17 April 1860 in Roslin, worked there as a cooper until at least 03 April 1881, but by 02 June 1882 he was working as a Coal Depot Banksman in Edinburgh and thus the Old connection with the Roslin Gunpowder Works ended.