2013 - The Year of the Parties

Well 2013 has been a year to consolidate the works of earlier years at water tower wood. Nothing spectacular happened in woodland terms apart from perhaps the reduction in the heavy limbs of the Beech trees that are the giants of this woodland. They sit atop the steep slope and are unbalanced. Limb reduction back to a growth point will help and perhaps further reduction can be done at a later stage. I understand it is a shock to the tree to cut a limb too drastically. 

Some additional woodland native planting was carried out in November, lots more holly and beech. Yew cuttings planted. Dalkeith Estate "old oak" acorns scattered and buried. The latter thanks to Cameron.

2013 was more noted for partying. Gerry having reached the ripe age of 60 this year, decided to have a series of parties rather than host one big event. So many people to invite and he wanted to cook for groups of 20 - 30 at a time, no more. I couldn't let his actual birthday party go without some element of surprise and so the birthday party in August started with 30 people and at 10pm another 30 arrived as a surprise, nay shock, to Gerry.

The photos tell all and I have chosen just a few from the 1,700! photos. Those that will show the woodland in and around the house and not to impose on peoples identity without their permission.

Getting ready for the big party. 

                         
                                               




  The photographer is a professional. Neat photo. 
                                                   

The woodland side, all set up and waiting to go.

Gerry's sister with Harris. Never mind the guests, what about those stag horn ferns.

As dusk fell the house lights, garden lights and candles take over.

Then the party lights. Subtle but magical, and the dancing starts.

                                       Heels and a woodland floor are not a great combination. 


There were party lights in the trees from Ian Hunter (aka The Singing Butcher) which added the most amazing effect to the surrounds and on peoples faces. 

So all in all a magical event which we are all still talking about. But what of the rest of the year. 




Well a major land slip has been a hot topic in our area. It is interesting that land slip and stabilisation of land has been levied against our activities in recent years when the opposite was the plan. When land slip then happens on a significant scale on council land next door to us, the irony is not lost on us. Lets hope 2014 see's the repair of that land and the re opening of the steps to ironmills. 

This is a map showing the land slip area. Our land is the bit marked "private" so its pretty close to our land but not on our land. 

Investigation of possible causes of the land slip was carried out by the council in March/April 2013. The shared septic tank (Midlothian Council, Bankfoot Cottage and Us) and its inputs and its outlet to the river was checked via a camera and in the process 2 rodding eyes were inserted at key points along the length of the pipe (to make it easier to check this outlet in the future). The council have responsibility for the drain pipe from the outlet because that pipe carries the street drains.

I remember when we first bought the water tower 25 years ago, the septic tank used to smell every summer. Gerry tracked the problem to the continual blockage of the septic tank because the road drains were emptying INTO the tank! carrying with the road drainage all the leaves and silt from the road. The septic tank clearly didn't operate as a septic tank at all at that time. The conditions in a septic tank have to be right for anaerobic digestion of biological material and I doubt that can be achieved with road drain effluent in the mix.

Some years of wrangling ensued with various departments. Eventually the use of blue dye proved Gerry's case and the council agreed to take away the road drain from the septic tank. However, with no where else for the road drains to go, they simply diverted the road drain to the OUTLET of the tank and so the road water flushes the outlet pipe and keeps it running clear. Gerry then put the septic tank maintenance onto a shared programme between the council, us and our neighbour in Bankfoot. So the checks this year were welcome but we didn't anticipate any issues arising from the good management of the septic tank and we knew all our drains were fit for purpose. The only blockage found was that from the council buildings that sit in the Cemetery. There's a loo there and I guess some sinks. Not sure what else. The blockage though was so old that a section of the pipe had completely disintegrated. I guess this effluent wasn't going into the septic tank at all. Most likely it was seeping into the ground. Yeuch. I took a photo at the time.

Ironmills meanwhile continues to blossom, literally, with a wild flower meadow this year and new paths cut through the park. I think it is beautiful.

                                                    





But what about the hens? Well we have 2 new "Blues" and as I write they are each still laying an egg a day.

I would post more pictures but would rather keep this blog to woodland activities. If anyone would particularly like to read and see anything specific in the woodland, let me know and I can photograph and update accordingly. Otherwise it's a woodland, it tends to take care of itself and the tree planting on the slope will probably be the most significant change to see in years to come. There are lots of Cherry and all are doing well, apart from one which keeled over and died. The ash do exceptionally well and I gather ash die-back is no longer the threat it was thought to be. Beech of all sizes continue to be the year round stars with their autumn colour and leaves held over winter. The mature hornbeam was particularly beautiful this autumn, oh and the sweet chestnut. The twisty tree.

Goodbye 2013, it has been a great year.


Susan 
Jan 5th 2014

From Cameron via Facebook

spring has sprung ,the crocus croaks
And in ma ain wee windae box
the crocus hings its little heid 
is it greetin,naw its deid

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.

Cemetery Lodge House. Family Connections. Listed Building Story. Wood Chip Path.

It's always interesting when you find out the history of an old building associated with the woodland and our woodland plot started off as the drying green to Cemetery Lodge Cottage. Recently I had a phone call from a couple called Jim and Isobel Kerr from Dalkeith. Isobel lived in Cemetery Lodge Cottage with her father Sam Bigham in the 60s before she married Jim. Prior to that the occupiers were Ian Sterling, his mum, and dad William and his sister Etta.

Jim retired as the Deputy Head Teacher of Haddington School and Jim's great grandmother was Jessie Tillie Calder, a tailoress in Dalkeith with her husband William Lowrie Calder. 

The grave stone of Jessie and William is in the cemetery. A slim pointed piece of stone shown in the newspaper article below. The stone also records my great great grandmothers name, Mary Dods Tillie who also lived in Cemetery Lodge Cottage. Jessie and Mary are clearly related.

The article from Midlothian Advertiser some years ago now. My mother is sadly dead now but I am really pleased we found out this family connection and we had the chance to record it for posterity before she passed away.

Now I could go on about this family connection to Cemetery Lodge House but its pretty hard going as a casual read. I'll stop here and instead move on to that other topical subject that crops up for me from time to time. Planning! And this time it's planning matters for Cemetery Lodge Cottage.

I always think that fostering a good community spirit is key to life. It brings joy and the feel good factor when someone does a good turn or even makes you aware of potential pitfalls ahead. Where I live I am happy to say I find that good community spirit exists and it is indeed a joy to live here. But a very small faction of our community seem hell bent on making life difficult, maybe not just for me?

Cemetery Lodge Cottage is a sweet little building and bizarrely was Grade C Listed in 1992, 3 months before we purchased the building (for the second time - long story). Last year Gerry arranged to replace the windows after a major repair to the roof which led on to the walls and then the windows. Most of the wood was rotting and the windows were beyond repair. He went ahead, replaced them with timber with an identical glazing pattern, but double glazed and side hung. What a difference to the fuel bills.

Then some 14 months after the windows were replaced we received a Planning Contravention Notice (PCN) and were advised that someone had complained, not about the windows per se, but about the fact the we had not applied for listed building consent. A criminal offence, the planning officer was at "panes" to point out it could warrant a jail sentence and meant he would not discuss as matters were sub judice. OMG as they say on Facebook. 

If you foster good community spirit and you discovered this sort of matter, wouldn't you let the person know in order that they could address it? rather than make it a complaint. Clearly the complaint comes from someone that does not foster good community spirit.

Gerry and I discussed. He genuinely did not know it was listed, although I was aware of it from the internet. But that was not something I ever bothered to share with Gerry and when he replaced the windows I left planning matters up to him. The windows were fit for conservation area purposes and he had checked that.

We completed the PCN request and started to investigate. Sad to say I found this really interesting. I researched planning and listed buildings, looked at applications that were accepted/refused and got a feel for what was required. It might just be that not retaining sash and case opening method would be an issue and some of the windows on the cottage might have to be replaced. That was the worst case scenario. Then we looked at the listing. It was odd. It was listed for it's association with the Grade B water tower but it has no architectural merit to make that association. The buildings are very different and their only link is that we owned both. Not only was the listing strange but we had no record of being notified. And our filing system is first class. That was one to take up with the council.

We had a meeting with the council planning officers and they asked for a retrospective application for the windows which we agreed to do. We queried why we had no notification of the listing and were told that this was the responsibility of Historic Scotland and not up to the council to notify. It would have been issued by Historic Scotland and the lawyers search would reveal the listing at point of sale. We checked. Of course we checked.

On the bus into town for the festival and with some spare time, we got off the bus early at Longmore House where Historic Scotland have their offices. We met a most helpful person who, unlike the council employee who loved to tell us it was a criminal offence, shared the story of someone who demolished a grade A listed castle in Scotland and was fined £500. Oh good, were not going to go to jail after all. Hingin was still an option though (for Denise).

What was most interesting though was that Historic Scotland produced all the legislation that clearly states that it is the council who are responsible for advising of listed status. So I guess that means the council officer Bruce McLeod told us a lie, or was he just incompetent. Is hingin too good for him? I guess so.

We hot footed to the council the following day. Where's our letter advising listed status we asked. A very red faced officer returned with no letter to be found and no idea if one existed for our house or for any other house that is listed for that matter. You may want to think about that if you are the owner of a listed building in Midlothian.

I researched further. Eskbank and Ironmills has a conservation area appraisal. Not dated nor signed, but the text gives away that it was prepared around mid 1994, 2 years after the cemetery lodge was listed. Cemetery lodge though is not included in the list of Grade C listed buildings on the appendix of the appraisal. Help, it was missing again! 

Late 1994 an extension on the cottage had listed building consent. The application, prepared by an agent and signed off by me (because Gerry was in hospital at the time recovering from a serious event), would have gone the rounds of listed building consent checks. It should have been advertised by the council, in the Edinburgh Gazette. Other C listed buildings can be found advertised in the early 90's but nothing can be traced for Cemetery Lodge Cottage extension in 1994. Yet another anomaly.

So the cottage is listed but not all the boxes have been ticked with the listing and its merits for listing are very odd. With advice from Historic Scotland we applied to have it reviewed.

Now If you don't know what a Catch 22 is you are about to get a great example. But first the Wikipedia definition

The phrase "Catch-22", "a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem or by a rule,"^[4]has entered the English language.

Historic Scotland agree to review and even sound slightly hopeful of removing the cottage from the list when they see our photos and look at their own files. But nothing can be done whilst there is an ongoing planning issue. Catch 22.

I completed the review form and since the PCN had been completed I duly recorded that there was no planning application pending. Because at that stage there was no application, only the promise of one to come. Once a quality assurance manager always a quality assurance manager. Always answer the question and only the question.

We went off on holiday for a month.

Week one of our holiday we receive an e mail from Historic Scotland that they are in discussion with the council regarding the listing of Cemetery Lodge Cottage. Interesting.

On return from holiday we take legal advice and decide not to progress the application until we have something in writing from the council with regard to the original notification of the listing in 1992. Our lawyers check and no listing notice was found during the searches when the cottage was purchased in 1992. It all just seems so odd.

We wait, and we wait, and we wait. We almost forget about it all. Until this week. 

A very trivial complaint rears its head about wood chip on the path outside our home. It is trivial in the extreme but yet again the manner used to deal with the complaint and the niggle factor contribute way more than the substance of the complaint. It actually turns into a great deal of fun over a blue plant pot, but that's another story. The cynic in me tells me that this trivial complaint has the same source as the listed building complaint and lo and behold 2 days later we receive advice from Historic Scotland that the cottage has been removed from the list. A phone call to Historic Scotland reveals that the council have had this info before we did. I am guessing our complainers have also "found out" before us and hence the wood chip complaint in a desperate attempt to taint me with something. Or am I putting 2 and 2 together and making 5?

It appears unprecedented that a building can be removed from the list whilst there is an ongoing planning matter but we make case history I guess. It feels good but more importantly, it feels right. the cottage is not that special in architectural terms and I really do not think it merited being on the list. The new windows are actually beautiful and do not compromise the look of the building nor the conservation area. Nonetheless if it had been of merit and our changes to the windows affected that merit, we would have changed the windows accordingly. Because it is the building that is important. Not Gerry and I, not the council, not the complainers; the building. I have to say though if we had had to change the windows I know where the bill would have been sent!

Here's the cottage before we purchased it and now with the new windows. See what you think. Love to hear from anyone locally regarding the family connections and folks who lived in the cottage. 

                                From Historic Scotland (1992)
 What we purchased initially (1989)

                                     

                               
                                                          New window at cemetery side

New windows at street side

Oh and finally - that wood chip complaint.

E Mail correspondence. Done and dusted within the week.

Dear Mr Venton

I write to offer to meet using the council mediation services with whoever has cause for concern for the path at Cemetery Road. It is clear there are continuing concerns and I fear that without a mediated meeting these concerns will fester and continue to deplete council resources. If you were able to enlist the council mediation services and arrange for myself to meet with the party concerned I would appreciate the opportunity to highlight my concerns and hear the concerns of others.
Regards 
Susan Goldwyre.

The Reply

Thank you for your email and the offer to meet. I have responded to the enquiry stating we have no issue with the woodchip and therefore hope there is no reason for a meeting.

Justin Venton
Land  and Countryside Manager
Corporate Resources Division
Midlothian Council
62 A Polton Street ,
Bonnyrigg
EH19 3YD
Tel 0131 561 5220
Fax 0131 654 2797

To the complainer. Good luck with whatever you find next. x

Land slip Ironmills

Quick update for the person searching for this.

Photographs Nov 4th 2013

Life at water tower wood is quiet and peaceful, perhaps too peaceful of late. The closure of the access steps to Ironmills Park is both a blessing and a curse. Whilst no one has called to complain about the spread of some bark chips on the short section of path outside my gate (believe me, it happened before), it is sad to have less people to chat to whilst working outside. 

On Sunday the skies were blue and the wind was blowing quite hard. Made for some photo opportunity. Here they are.

1. The wild flower meadow in Ironmills park. The smaller trees in the photo are those planted 5 years ago to celebrate the centenary of the gift of the park to Dalkeith.

2. The tower from the back of Ironmills Cottages. House RP9 is there, but hasn't it blended in as the wood has faded over the last 3 years.

3. Popular spot with photographers, the weir under the viaduct.

4 and 5. The trees planted 5 years ago, again.

6. Same again.Well I did manufacture the opportunity to have the trees planted so I do feel pleased that the trees are thriving.

7. Oak leaves under blue sky

8. Same tree, it's actually a Turkey Oak.

9. Variety of Acer, a park species tree that is complimentary to native trees.

10. View from the park to RP9 and the woodland to the West.

11. Autumn glory

12. The sad closure of the steps to Cemetery Road

13. The yellow leafed tree behind the pillar is a mature Hornbeam which sits precariously on top of the steep bank. Advised that this tree would have been planted rather than self seeded. It's one of my favourites.

14, 15 , 16. This is my attempt at a sympathetic barrier between our ground in the cemetery! and the cemetery. Its called a hairy hedge and its made from wind blown branches from the weeping silver birch trees. It will get bigger each year as the wind blown material is collected and added to the "hedge". Has to be better than something more formal.

17. Anniversary gifts this year. Thanks Seonaid, Andi, Pat and Mike.

18. The path where the works to make safe 4 years ago turned the planning department into a tiz and probably cost the tax payer a lot more than it cost to construct.  It was recommended for approval, refused by councillors and approved at appeal. Have I mentioned this planning stuff before?
(amazingly, our local councillor instructed the community council this week to take care when complaining about planning applications if minded to lobby for refusal of matters that conformed with planning, because, wait for it, it is costly to the tax payer when these applications are later approved at Scottish Office level)

19. It really was windy. This is a Sweet Chestnut tree or as I like to call it, the twisty tree.

20. David Bailey eat your heart out.

21, 22. The back of the woodland, ticking over nicely.

23, 24. Top of the Royal Niall.

25. The twisty tree from the other side. 

26. Ear marked for change this autumn. Barrier, re shape and re plant required. 

27, 28 and 29. The woodland garden

30. The stag horn ferns were glorious this year. Past their best now.

31 and 32. Going downhill

33, 34 and 35. Looking up from the woodland steps. The magnificent beech trees which had a major prune this year to take the weight off and reduce the risk of loss. The section of screening below the path works has faded and ivy, elm, beech and a planted woodland honeysuckle are all doing really well. In 33 and 34 the gap at the top of the old land slip is very evident. I often wonder if it will slip even further.

36. There's an old copper pan in there, if you can find it.

37. Looking through the steps in the bank to the uphill turn to the West.