DuringThe thisvillage period,of Bonaly is likely to have been home to a modest population of tenant farmers, living in [[cottar|cot-houses]], raising [[livestock]] and practising the [[open field]] system of [[rig and furrow]] agriculture. They may have supplemented their income with [[weaving]]. It is difficult to estimate the size of the settlement at this time but the area under cultivation was extensive. Traces of [[rig and furrow]] cultivation strips can be seen in the hills high above Bonaly, on land that has now reverted to rough-grazing. <ref>{{cite web |url= http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/293224/details/bonaly+reservoir/|title=Bonaly Reservoir |access date=12 March 2010 |publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland}}</ref>
The Foulis family were supporters of the [[Cavalier|Royalist]] cause during the [[English Civil War|Civil War]]. Their fortunes suffered badly after Cromwell's victorious[[Oliver_Cromwell#Scottish_campaign:_1650.E2.80.931651| campaign]] in Scotland and they were forced to sell off much of their lands. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://download.edinburgh.gov.uk/caca/CACAColinton.pdf|title=Colinton Conservation Area Character Appraisal|access date=12 March 2010}}</ref> In the aftermath of [[Oliver_Cromwell|Cromwell's]] campaign, English troops were [[billet|billeted]] at Bonaly.
InBy the 17<sup>th</sup> century, the village at Bonaly appears to have been thriving and is mentioned frequently in the [[Kirk Session]] records. In addition to the dwellings of the tenant farmers, there was a substantial farmhouse (c. 1650), several [[Fulling#Fulling Mills|Waulk Mills]], a skinnery, a [[distillery]], a magnesia factory and a [[flax mill]]. These industries stood on the banks of the Bonaly Burn, which was used as a power-source, a supply of water and for carrying away waste. Prior to the [[Bonaly#Bonaly Reservoir|damming]] of its tributaries, the Lady Burn and the Dean Burn, Bonaly Burn would have suppliedprovided a more powerful supplyflow of water to thefor millsmilling. <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archive.org/stream/parishofcolinton00shan/parishofcolinton00shan_djvu.txt|title=The parish of Colinton : from an early period to the present day p. 31|access date=12 March 2010}}</ref> One thing that theThe community lackednever washad its own church., and Parishionersparishioners travelled to the [[Colinton Parish Church|church in Colinton]] to attend services.
After several changes of ownership in the 1600's, Bonaly was eventually bought in 1700 by Sir John Foulis of Woodhall. Sir John's Account Book (1671-1707) contains frequent mentions of Bonaly, of the business he did there and of the rents he received from his tenants in the village. <ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.archive.org/details/accountbookofsir16foul|title=The account book of Sir John Foulis of Ravelston, 1671-1707|access date=12 March 2010}}</ref>
