The Old Well, High Street, Penicuik is a Grade B listed building in the Midlothian local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 4 February 1993. Well.
The Old Well, High Street, Penicuik
- WRENN ID
- gilded-crypt-moon
- Grade
- B
- Local Planning Authority
- Midlothian
- Constituency
- Midlothian MP: Kirsty McNeill (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 4 February 1993
- Type
- Well
- OS grid reference
- NT 235 598
- Coordinates
- 55.82617, -3.22213
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
The Old Well, located on High Street in Penicuik, was built in 1864 by architect J A Bell. It features a polished ashlar sandstone octagonal well head topped with an ogee cap and an amphora finial. The well is flanked by curved dwarf walls with coped terminals; the terminal to the northeast is missing its cope, while the southwest terminal is topped with a decorative cast-iron lamp standard.
On the street-facing side of the octagonal base, there is a slightly advanced tooled stone panel inscribed with 'The Gift of Alexr. Cowan. 1864'. This panel incorporates a square metal panel and a metal well tap, along with an advanced basin that has a roll-moulded coped rim situated below. The sides of the well feature part-infilled arched recesses at ground level for watering dogs. The ogee cap extends to form a cornice that arches over the street face of the octagon, with a scallop shell centered in the arch head.
On the rear face of the well, there is a cast-iron plaque with an inscription that details the construction of the well and its predecessor. It reads, 'The old well was built on this site in 1809 by D and A Cowan who also put up the public cart weights near this at the same time. This new well designed by J A Bell architect was erected in 1864 for the water of the old spring and for the water from Sillerburn... ...at the expense and by the desire of the late Alexander Cowan.'
Local climate
The Old Well, High Street, Penicuik sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,000 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 81% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 52% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 55 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 95% of listed buildings. Of these, 35 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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