3-034-547 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Scott Centenary - Lasswade; Ashestiel, 1871. Houses occupied by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott. 'The cottage at Lasswade, near Edinburgh, where Scott lived during the first six years after his marriage, from 1798 to 1804, [is] where he commenced his literary labours with the Border Minstrelsy...Lasswade, a pretty village six miles south by east of Edinburgh, is situated on the North Esk river, between Roslin and Dalkeith. There is a ford here, which was constantly used before it was superseded by a ferry or a bridge...The house which he occupied is an old cottage, with strong walls and thatched roof, standing on the rising ground of the banks of the Esk; it is overgrown with ivy and creeping plants. Ashestiel...was occupied by Scott from 1804 to 1812...[It] was leased to him, with a small farm, which he intended to put under the care of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd..."A more beautiful situation for the residence of a poet could not be conceived...You approached it through an old-fashioned garden, with holly hedges and broad green terrace walks".' From "Illustrated London News", 1871.