Cousland Smiddy

About the museum

Cousland Smiddy stands in the village of Cousland in Midlothian. There has been a working smiddy, or blacksmith’s forge, on the site since at least 1703, and a smith still works at the anvil in the early eighteenth-century workshop today.

The site includes four historic buildings: the smiddy itself, dating from the 1700s, the Smith’s Cottage from the 1820s, a but-and-ben cottage from the 1740s and a lean-to workshop from the 1940s. The cottage serves as a community heritage hub with an archive on the village blacksmiths, displays on the local archaeological finds and written, photographic and object collections about Cousland’s past.

The Cousland Smiddy Trust, a registered charity, was set up in 1989 to look after the site. Its Local History Project began in 2000 as a Millennium project and later led to the Lime Hutches Project and the Big Cousland Dig. The grounds also hold organic allotments used by villagers, a paddock and an orchard.

Highlights

• Working early 18th-century blacksmith’s workshop
• Victorian smith’s cottage and but-and-ben
• Community heritage hub with local history collections
• Archive on Cousland’s blacksmiths
• Allotments, orchard and paddock in the grounds

Permanent exhibition

• Smiddy, Smith’s Cottage and Heritage Hub – The working smiddy of the early 1700s and the smith’s cottage, which holds an archive on the village blacksmiths and displays on local archaeological and historical finds.

Founded

1986

Operated by

Cousland Smiddy Trust (Scottish charity SC009449)

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