Lead stolen from watch house roof

But 200 years on and it has failed to deter "low-life scum" from carrying out a very modern crime.

Thieves have stolen lead from a watch house in the Old Pentland Cemetery, near Damhead in Midlothian, attracted by the soaring price of scrap.

The historic cemetery is the resting place of the Gibsone family, who owned the estate where the first graves were dug in the 17th century.

Nick Gibsone, a descendent of the cemetery's founders, said: "It is sickening to see their good work trashed by low-life scum so cowardly they resort to stealing from the dead in their place of rest."

Watch houses were a common addition to cemeteries in the early 19th century, along with secure mortsafes, during the days of the resurrectionists, who would steal recently deceased bodies for local anatomists to study.

It is currently being restored and maintained by the volunteer members of the Damhead and District Conservation Group, but no-one was around when the metal thieves struck between noon on Saturday and 3pm on Sunday.

Christine Ireland, the group's secretary, said thieves had removed the middle section of lead flashing from the roof, leaving the cash-strapped group with a "costly" repair.

She added: "The wooden strut is exposed now. We will need to do something about it to keep the weather out.

"We will have to remove the two bits left and we will have to start to get estimates. We are not insured as such and funds are non-existent."

Old Pentland Cemetery also contains the graves of many high-profile Covenanters, who fought for Presbyterianism in the religious wars of the 17th century, and is thought to have acted as a place to tend the wounded from the Battle of Rullion Green in 1666.

It is the second theft from a local graveyard in recent months which is thought to be linked to the black market trade in scrap metal.

Thieves stole life-size statues of two lions from the grave of a former Lord Provost in the Dean Cemetery.

The statues, adorning the burial site of Sir James Steel, and a large 4ft by 4ft urn were stolen during a raid in July.

More recently, several properties in the Midlothian towns surrounding Damhead were hit by metal thieves in the space of a week between September 24 and October 2, including lead and copper piping taken from Loanhead Hospital, heavy steel fittings from Bilston Glen Industrial Estate and steel beams from a Rosewell building yard.

On September 28, a man was also seen trying to remove lead flashing from the roof of Rosslynlee Hospital.