Nestled in the valley of the Water of Leith is the remains of a snuff mill that once served Bonnie Prince Charlie.
For well over a century, Watt's mill at Juniper Green, was one of the foremost manufacturers of snuff in the Edinburgh region.
Built in 1763, it was one of several mills that saw families flock to the tiny village on the banks of the Water of Leith for employment opportunities in the 18th century.
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Juniper Green was known for its manufacture of lint, grain and paper, but snuff was prized above all. Enjoyed by the elite, dry snuff tobacco, which was inhaled through the nose, hit its peak in popularity during the Georgian era.
At Watt's mill, water power from the Water of Leith drove a system of gear wheels, which rotated rollers to grind the tobacco. Large sieves were used to sort the produce into three main snuff blends: black, brown and imperial.
Queen Charlotte, wife of King George III, was said to have been so fond of ingesting the addictive product that she had an entire room devoted to it at Windsor Castle and was even given the nickname 'Snuffy Charlotte'.
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But it was Bonnie Prince Charlie who is said to have favoured the snuff manufactured at Juniper Green. The Young Pretender is said to have had Watt's snuff imported while he was living in exile in Florence and Rome in the 1760s.
According to village history website Juniper Green 300, however, the Charles Edward Stuart link may be fanciful as the dates don't quite add up.
The website states: "It was said that Bonnie Prince Charlie once declared that Watt's snuff was the best he'd ever sniffed.
"If this is so, Watt must have exported it to the various resorts in Europe between which the dissolute wannabe was drunkenly and aimlessly drifting for Watt didn't start up his mill until 1763, well after the Young Pretender had gone into disappointed exile.
"It seems more likely that John Watt and his son Robert were astute businessmen, old and young pretenders of a different sort, implying a By Royal Appointment credit for their product."
When it closed in 1940, Watt's mill was the last working snuff mill in Scotland. The two-storey building was eventually demolished, but some remnants have survived.
To the immediate east of the housing that stands on the site of the former Juniper Green railway station, a portion of stonework from the mill can be seen in a gully beneath the walkway by the black railings.
The ruins of the building's back wall and the archway through which the mill lade ran, are still standing.
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