Built in 1879 for Dalkeith Town Council for the supply of domestic water, the Dalkeith Water Tower is an impressive octagonal structure situated on Cemetery Road a quarter-mile (0.5 km) southwest of the town centre. Thought to be the oldest building of its type in Scotland, it was designed by James Leslie (1801-89), Engineer to the Edinburgh Water Company, who was building reservoirs in Midlothian at that time. Constructed of polychromatic brick and 33m (100 feet) in height, it housed an 5.5-m (18-foot) high water tank, which was 5m (16 feet) in diameter and held 18,000 gallons (82,000 litres) of water. It cost £1330 to build on land acquired from the Duke of Buccleuch. The principal source of water was a nearby artesian well, which was pumped into the tower and then released via gravity to houses in Dalkeith and Eskbank. It fell from use around 1950 and was B-Listed in 1976.
It was subject to an award-winning conversion into a private residence in the late 1980s, with a modern balcony with timber platform and decorative wrought-iron balustrade encircling a weather-boarded upper stage with windows, which repalced the former tank. The property was later occupied by a restaurant.
