St Roque

I decided to walk from the Doctors (all tests acceptable - hooray!) to the bus in Morningside and to cut through the leafy backwater that is the Astley Ainslie Hospital rather than follow main roads. Hitherto only in the area to visit or deliver an item to one of the wards, it was pleasant to pass St Roque on foot and see its frontage.

Named after a C16 chapel that stood somewhere near the site, St Roque is one of the C19 mansions that were purchased by the Trustees of the David Ainslie of Costerton bequest 'to be known as the Astley Ainslie Institution for the relief or behoof of convalescents in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh'.

The first house purchased was Millbank, then Canaan Park in 1922, with Morelands and St Roque in 1948, followed by Canaan House and Southbank (formerly known as Canaan Bank) and each of these buildings houses specific departments on the site, with several new buildings extending the capacity, especially for therapy and prosthetics.

The path I took passed a pet cemetery, not confined to the original owner, an information board tells us that it 'contains graves of the beloved dogs and a horse of local residents from over the years' though I think, by their names, there may be a beloved cat there too...