Glencorse is a
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of
Midlothian
Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, lying south of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
[Gazetteer of Scotland, publ, by W & AK Johnston, Edinburgh, 1937. Article on Glencorse. Places are presented alphabetically] It is bounded on the north-west by the former parish of
Colinton
Colinton ( gd, Baile Cholgain) is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated south-west of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north ...
now within the City of Edinburgh, to the north and west by
Lasswade
Lasswade is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, nine miles (14.5 kilometres) south of Edinburgh city centre, contiguous with Bonnyrigg and between Dalkeith to the east and Loanhead to the west. Melville C ...
and to the south and west by
Penicuik
Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. It lies on the A701 midway between Edinburgh and Peebles, east of the Pentland Hills.
Na ...
.
The parish is in the northern part of the
Penicuik
Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. It lies on the A701 midway between Edinburgh and Peebles, east of the Pentland Hills.
Na ...
and District Community Council area and includes the village of
Auchendinny
Auchendinny (Scottish Gaelic: Achadh an t-Sionnaich, meaning field of the fox) is a small village in Glencorse near Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland. The village had a paper mill at Dalmore, until its closure in 2005. This was Midlothian's last rem ...
near its eastern boundary.
[Gazetteer of Scotland, 2nd edition, by W. Groome, publ. 1896. Article on Glencorse]
The parish is traversed from west to east by Glencorse Burn, part of whose valley contains
Glencorse Reservoir
Glencorse Reservoir is a reservoir in Midlothian, Scotland, two miles west of Glencorse, in the Pentland Hills.
It is retained by an earth dam, and it was built between 1820 and 1824 by James Jardine to provide water for the mills of Auchendin ...
, which was formed in 1819-28 by damming the burn's glen with a huge embankment high.
[ The reservoir is a source of Edinburgh's water supply. Also in the parish are ]Glencorse Barracks
Glencorse Barracks is a British Army barracks situated in Glencorse just outside the town of Penicuik in Midlothian, Scotland. It is one of the three barracks which make up the City of Edinburgh Garrison, with Dreghorn and Redford Barracks. It has ...
, Bush House
Bush House is a Grade II listed building at the southern end of Kingsway between Aldwych and the Strand in London. It was conceived as a major new trade centre by American industrialist Irving T. Bush, and commissioned, designed, funded, a ...
, Glencorse House, Woodhouselee and Easter Howgate
Easter Howgate is a settlement in Midlothian, Scotland, UK, on the A702, two miles north of Penicuik.
The Scottish Agricultural College maintains a teaching campus and a research farm there, named "Edinburgh Genetics".
See also
*List of places ...
. The northern part of the parish includes some of the Pentland Hills
The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale.
Etymology
The name is first recorded for the farm of Pentlan ...
and the highest point within the parish is Turnhouse Hill ().[The Statistical Account of Edinburghshire, by the Ministers of the Respective Parishes, publ. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1845. Article on Glencorse, p.310]
Historical records of the Parish before 1878 spell it in various different ways - Glencors, Glencrosss, Glencrosse and Glencorse. After 1878 the last was normally used. There are several theories about the origin of the name Glencorse. One is that it comes form the Gaelic gleann - a glen and grosg or craig , a crossing - so a glen crossing the Pentland hills. George Chalmers in his book "''Caledonia''" claims the name comes from "a very remarkable cross, which has been erected in the vale of Glencross by pious hands." Yet another theory is that the name comes from a miraculous cross that appeared above Carnethy hill and encouraged the Scottish soldiers to defeat the English forces at the Battle of Roslin
The Battle of Roslin on 24 February 1303 was a Scottish victory in the First War of Scottish Independence. It took place near the village of Roslin, where a force led by the Scots John Comyn and Sir Simon Fraser ambushed and defeated an Engl ...
in 1303.
The parish is divided between two Scottish Parliamentary constituencies: Midlothian North and Musselburgh to the north of Glencorse burn and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale south of the burn.
History
The parish was originally named after St. Catherine, because of the chapel (St. Catherine-in-the-Hopes) dedicated to her which stood in the valley of Glencorse Burn (now submerged under a reservoir) and is mentioned in a record dated 1230. The parish of Glencorse was formed sometime before 1560 with the chapel of St. Catherine-in-the-Hopes as its church. Over the next century the parish was variously combined with the parishes of Dalkeith, Lasswade, Penicuik, Pentlands and the Bishopric of Edinburgh (In 1616, for example, it included the ancient parishes of Pentland and Penicuik, the northern part being taken from the parish of Pentland arony of Fulfordand the southern part from Penicuik) . In March 1647 Glencorse was re-created by act of Parliament as a separate Parish with its own church building near the centre of the parish.
The Battle of Rullion Green
The Battle of Rullion Green took place on 28 November 1666, near the Pentland Hills, in Midlothian, Scotland. It was the only significant battle of the Pentland Rising, a brief revolt by Covenanter dissidents against the Scottish government.
S ...
between Covenanters
Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...
and Scottish Government troops took place in 1666 in Glencorse Parish. The Covenanters were defeated.
The 1647 parish church was rebuilt. It was repaired and rebuilt several times from 1661-1691[ and then mostly destroyed in a fire in 1697. The church (now known as the Glencorse Old Kirk) was rebuilt in 1699 with the north and south aisles being added and accommodation for 180 people.] A tower and belfry were added to the church during renovations in 1811. The author Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...
attended services in the church in his youth when he lived in Swanston village nearby and once described the Old Kirk as the "most delightful place on earth." Stevenson's letters to his friends often mention the Old Kirk and he used his memories as models for the churches in his books "''A Lowder Sabbath Morning,''" "''Weir of Hermiston
''Weir of Hermiston'' (1896) is an unfinished novel by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is markedly different from his previous works in style and has often been praised as a potential masterpiece. It was cut short by Stevenson's sudden death in 189 ...
''" and "''The Body Snatcher
"The Body Snatcher" is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). First published in ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' in December 1884, its characters were based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert K ...
''." The Old Kirk building acquired a new roof about 2004 and, in 2021, was rented out for weddings and events, having been superseded for parish use by a much larger church. The renovated church was used as a location for one of the scenes in Season 1 of the Outlander television series. The Glencorse Old Kirk of Glencorse became too small for the parish due to the increased numbers of Royal Scots troops at Glencorse Barracks. The Minister at the time, the Rev. William Baillie Strong (1878-1928) was the driving force behind the building of a new church. The Rt. Hon. John Inglis offered a free site for the new church and funds to help with the construction. Col. Robert Trotter, of Bush House also donated funds for a new building and a site to use as a cemetery, namely a field of about an acre at New Milton farm as the Old Kirk cemetery was full. The new church, designed by the architect Sir Rowand Anderson, was erected in 1885 and could seat 500 people. The font was found in the floor of the Old Kirk during renovations in 1811 and is thought to have originally come from the Chapel of St Catherine, which was flooded during the creation of the Glencorse Reservoir. The tower was erected 10 years after the main church using funds donated by John Inglis's son H.H. Inglis.
A Parochial Board was established under the Poor Law (Scotland) Act 1845. With the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c. 58) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It created a Local Government Board for Scotland, and replaced existing parochial boards with parish councils.
Part I of the ac ...
the Parish Council was established, which continued until 1930 when parish councils in Scotland were abolished,.[Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929] Civil parishes persist for census and other non-administrative purposes.
The civil parish has an area of 4,245 acres[ and a population of 5,293 (in 2011).][Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved March 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Civil Parish 1930]
Notable residents
*C. T. R. Wilson
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, (14 February 1869 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish physicist and meteorologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the cloud chamber.
Education and early life
Wilson was born in the parish ...
(1869-1959) winner of the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
for Physics in 1927
References
{{authority control
Parishes in Midlothian
Penicuik
Villages in Midlothian