Wallyford miners stone

Instead of my usual walks to the beach, I went the opposite direction and walked to the neighbouring town of Wallyford.

The town is an ex-mining community and grew as an overspill/ commuter town for workers in Musselburgh and Edinburgh, when the mines closed in the early 1970s. A coal mine at Wallyford was worked for the profit of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1563 and also supplied coal for her own fire at Holyrood Palace.

The town is overlooked by the restored Fa’side Castle which was destroyed by the English after the Battle of Pinkie in 1547. In 2016, construction began to regenerate the village with an estimated 1000 new houses being built. A new, replacement Primary School was completed in February 2019. A new village high street/centre will be created alongside a legible hierarchy of roads and footpaths, maximising connections throughout but in particular to the Village Centre and Community Woodland. 

It’s all change for Wallyford by the looks of it, but there are still reminders of its proud mining past such as the miners stone which was carved and unveiled in 2010. The stones commemorates the many miners who lost their lives in mining the black gold.

I hope you have had a good Sunday.