Gorebridge is a former mining village in

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 ...

. Gorebridge has an annual Gala Day which always takes place on the 3rd Saturday in June. This is much like a town fair, with rides and games. The gala day has a tradition of picking a Town King and Queen from the

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

schools. Gorebridge has four primary schools, Gorebridge Primary, Stobhill Primary, St Andrews RC Primary and Gore Glen Primary. Greenhall High school used to serve the town but closed down in 1994. Local children attend nearby

Newbattle Community High School Newbattle High School ''(formerly Newbattle Community High School)'' is a non-denominational secondary state school located in Easthouses, Midlothian, Scotland within Newbattle Community Campus, which opened to the public on 26 May 2018. It ...

St David's RC High School St David's Roman Catholic High School is a Catholic secondary state school located at Cousland Road in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. It has shared the same campus with Dalkeith High School since 2003. Pupils The school had a roll of almos ...

or Lasswade High School. There is a leisure centre, library and

Vogrie Country Park Vogrie Country Park in Scotland is managed by Midlothian Council. It consists of a woodland estate surrounding the Victorian Vogrie House. It is located around from Edinburgh between Pathhead and Gorebridge. Facilities in the parkland include ...

in Gorebridge. Gorebridge's local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team is Arniston Rangers who were founded in 1878 and play home games at Newbyres Park in the .

Annette Crosbie Annette Crosbie (born 12 February 1934) is a Scottish actor.Annette Crosbie fil ...

, known to many as the long suffering wife of Victor Meldrew, played by fellow Scot Richard Wilson in the BBC comedy series ''

One Foot in the Grave ''One Foot in the Grave'' is a British television sitcom written by David Renwick. There were six series (each consisting of six half-hour shows) and seven Christmas specials over a period of ten years from early 1990 to late 2000. The first fi ...

'', is a former resident of Gorebridge. The Reverend David Arnott,

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland, minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week i ...

for 2011–12, was minister at Gorebridge Parish Church in the 1970s. On 6 September 2015 Gorebridge saw the return of the

Waverley Line The Waverley Route was a railway line that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remaind ...

with a new station built on the site of the original station. This gives rail access to the

Borders A border is a geographical boundary. Border, borders, The Border or The Borders may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Border'' (1997 film), an Indian Hindi-language war film * ''Border'' (2018 Swedish film), ...

and

Edinburgh Waverley railway station Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

. In the Gore Glen there is a shallow cave, named "The King's Cave". According to legend a thief used to steal cattle and hide in this nearby cave. It is not, as some think, named after

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...

, who was said to have hidden here after defeat at the hands of the English. There are 29

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s in Gorebridge including one Category B building (Harvieston Lodge), and two Category C buildings (Gorebridge old station and the Post Office). On 30 August 2020, police broke up a party of 300 people at the Mansion house of Kirkhill in Gorebridge and issued a fine to the organiser. Scottish Government rules during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

at the time were for a maximum of eight people from three households to meet inside at one time. In 2021, Gorebridge Leisure Centre was used as a mass vaccination centre during the

History

The village got its name from the bridge across the River Gore, a tributary of the South Esk. It was the home of Stobsmill, Scotland's first

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

mill, at the Gore Water, that started operating in 1794 and closed in 1875. In the 1860s century a coal mine called Emily Pit was opened, the village grew as miners came and a railway was built to take the coal from the mine. The Emily Pit and Gore Pit (another coal mine) were together renamed the Arniston Colliery which closed in 1962. The railway line was closed in 1969 and reopened in 2015.

References

External links

Gorebridge Community Development TrustVideo and commentary on Gorebridge Railway Station.
{{Authority control Villages in Midlothian Mining communities in Scotland

History

See also

References

External links