Ironmills Steps Update from council Dec 23rd

Published on 23 December 2013

Preliminary work to establish how best to repair Ironmills Park steps will begin in early January.

 The steps  closed in the spring because of a landslip  and have remained off limits because of further substantial land slippage.

A specialist engineer, Ironside Farrar, has been appointed to assess the damage and required repairs. On site investigation work will involve several boreholes as part of the ground works assessment. Ironside Farrar is expected to report back to the council by Easter.

A spokesman said: “We’d like to thank the public for their patience as this is the main pedestrian access route from Cemetery Road in Dalkeith to the park.

“We’re delighted to finally have Ironside Farrar on board. They will start work early in January with the aim of establishing what the problem is and what we need to do to get the steps open to the public as quickly as possible.

“The slippage is substantial so we’re pleased to have a specialist company working with us on this one.” 

The way into the park currently is via Old Edinburgh Road then Ironmills Road to Ironmills Park.



An extract from the History of The Water Tower 
mentions bore holes.........

Water was pumped to the tower from various sources throughout its working life. One of the early principle sources was from a bore tapping into an artesian well at Bridgend. This supplied up to 200,000 gallons of water per day to the tower.

In 1910 searches for further supplies led to Ironmills Park. A mill wheel was in working order and this was used to pump water from a bore sunk in the flour mill (previously an ironmill ). Water was pumped into a tank with a capacity of 10,000 gallons then conveyed to the tower to be mixed with other supplies.