John Kay says

I take it you have been to the City Library at George IV Bridge where a section on Local History is available.

Johnni Stanton says

History of Peffermill House

Peffermill House was built in 1636 by Edgar Wallace of Wedderlie in the Merse, a family from Berwickshire.

This tall, imposing and rather dark house is surrounded by a large wooded garden on the south side of Duddingston Loch, and was originally part of a mill complex, which made paper in the late 18th century, known as Paper Milne, although Peffermill, in the old 'Scoto-Saxon' (poffre-mill) is said to mean 'the mill of the dark muddy stream' - which is the Braid Burn that runs through eastern garden of the house.

It is a three storey, L-plan structure with steeply pitched roofs and crow-stepped gables and has a circular stair-tower in the angle of the 'L'. The semi-dormered second floor above the string course has elaborately pedimented windows, and a corbelled chimney belonging to the first-floor hall. Traditionally it was thought that the house was connected by a subterranean passage to 14th-century Craigmillar Castle which lies directly to the south, although the distance between the two would have made this a formidable if not impossible undertaking.

In these modern times Peffermill House lies half hidden amongst the trees, to the south of Duddingston Loch across the large expanse of Prestonfield Golf Course, surrounded on two sides by factory units and modern housing. Sir Walter Scott, who wrote the 'Heart of Midlothian' in the garden of Duddingston Manse on the shores of the loch, could look directly across to Peffermill House, and may have used it as the model for the residence of the novel's 'laird of Dumbiedykes'. It is said to have been the residence of Mr. Thomas Braidwood, who pioneered the education of the deaf and dumb in Edinburgh in 1764, where he lived in the house with his pupils, and was visited by James Boswell and Dr Johnson when they returned to Edinburgh from their tour of the Hebrides in 1773.

Johnni Stanton

Johnni Stanton says

History of Peffermill House Peffermill House was built in 1636 by Edgar Wallace of Wedderlie in the Merse, a family from Berwickshire. This tall, imposing and rather dark house is surrounded by a large wooded garden on the south side of Duddingston Loch, and was originally part of a mill complex, which made paper in the late 18th century, known as Paper Milne, although Peffermill, in the old 'Scoto-Saxon' (poffre-mill) is said to mean 'the mill of the dark muddy stream' … which is the Braid Burn that runs through eastern garden of the house. It is a three storey, L-plan structure with steeply pitched roofs and crow-stepped gables and has a circular stair-tower in the angle of the 'L'. The semi-dormered second floor above the string course has elaborately pedimented windows, and a corbelled chimney belonging to the first-floor hall. Traditionally it was thought that the house was connected by a subterranean passage to 14th-century Craigmillar Castle which lies directly to the south, although the distance between the two would have made this a formidable if not impossible undertaking. In these modern times Peffermill House lies half hidden amongst the trees, to the south of Duddingston Loch across the large expanse of Prestonfield Golf Course, surrounded on two sides by factory units and modern housing. Sir Walter Scott, who wrote the 'Heart of Midlothian' in the garden of Duddingston Manse on the shores of the loch, could look directly across to Peffermill House, and may have used it as the model for the residence of the novel's 'laird of Dumbiedykes'. It is said to have been the residence of Mr. Thomas Braidwood, who pioneered the education of the deaf and dumb in Edinburgh in 1764, where he lived in the house with his pupils, and was visited by James Boswell and Dr Johnson when they returned to Edinburgh from their tour of the Hebrides in 1773.