Newbridge is a village in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Kirkliston Kirkliston is a village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, Scotland, historically within the county of West Lothian but now within the City of Edinburgh council area limits. It lies on high ground immediately north of a northward loop of the ...

, west of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in Scotland. It formerly belonged to

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, 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 council ar ...

, but it has been on the western fringe of to the City of Edinburgh since 1975. The original village consists of a small crossroads settlement to the east of the eponymous New Bridge, which spans the River Almond. Around it is a confusion of roads and industrial estates converging on the Newbridge Roundabout, the meeting point of the M8 and M9 motorways. Newbridge (including Ratho Station) had a total population of 1,074 at the 2011 Census based on the 2010 definition of the locality.

Archaeology

Excavations in advance of a phased commercial development in 2007 and 2014 by AOC Archaeology revealed human activity in Newbridge from the

Mesolithic The Mesolithic (Ancient Greek language, Greek: μέσος, ''mesos'' 'middle' + λίθος, ''lithos'' 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic i ...

to the medieval period.

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

put the earliest human activity in the area at 6640–6230 BC. There was a scatter of domestic settlement in the Middle Bronze Age (radio carbon dates of 1700-1200 BC) and pre-Roman Iron Age. They also believe there may be the remnants of a barrow cemetery. The archaeologists also identified a section of

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a Roman roads, Roman road which ran north from Eboracum (York), crossing the Stanegate at Corbridge (Hadrian's Wall was crossed at the Portgate, just to the north) and continuing beyond int ...

, a Roman road. Finally, there was evidence that the area was farmed in the 11th to 12th centuries and in the 13th to 14th centuries AD, a pattern reflected in other medieval settlement in the Lothians.

Newbridge Chariot

The remains of an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

chariot burial Chariot burials are tombs in which the deceased was buried together with their chariot, usually including their horses and other possessions. An instance of a person being buried with their horse (without the chariot) is called horse burial. Fi ...

were found near the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

burial mound at Huly Hill, Newbridge, in advance of development at the Edinburgh Interchange. The chariot was the first of its kind to be found in Scotland.

Local amenities

Newbridge has an

industrial estate An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

, multiple car dealerships, a

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

branch, a pub with a large beer garden (the Newbridge Inn, founded in 1683), a bowling club, a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

restaurant, a petrol station, a Premier Inn (with Thyme restaurant), a

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargil ...

and a

fish and chip shop A fish and chip shop, sometimes referred to as a chip shop or chippy, is a restaurant that specialises in selling fish and chips. Usually, fish and chip shops provide takeaway service, although some have seating facilities. Fish and chip shop ...

. There is a Scotmid nearby at Ratho Station. Larger supermarkets can be found in Broxburn. A doctor's surgery and a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

are located in

Ratho Ratho () is a village in the rural west part of the City of Edinburgh council area, Scotland. Its population at the 2011 census was 1,634 based on the 2010 definition of the locality. It was formerly in the old county of Midlothian (historic), ...

Transport

Road

The Newbridge roundabout was built in 1970 as a flat roundabout serving the M8 Edinburgh to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

motorway, the M9 Edinburgh to

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

motorway, the A8 and the A89. One of the busiest roundabouts in Scotland, traffic congestion became intolerable and it was converted to a

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...

roundabout interchange in 1997, becoming Junction 1 of the M9. The A8 (dual carriageway to Maybury junction only) runs from the Newbridge Roundabout into Edinburgh City Centre. The A89 road runs from Newbridge roundabout to Broxburn.

Bus

Newbridge is served by several bus services.

McGill's Scotland East

* X38 (Falkirk - Linlithgow - Kirkliston - Edinburgh)

Lothian Country Buses

* 70 (Hermiston P&R - Ratho - Ratho Station - Gyle Centre) * 71 (Queensferry - Kirkliston - Newbridge - Gyle Centre) * X18 (Whitburn - Armadale - Bathgate - Dechmomt - Broxburn - Edinburgh) * X19 (Winchburgh - Kirkliston - Newbridge - Ratho Station - Edinburgh) * N18 (Edinburgh - Broxburn - Dechmont - Bathgate)(Weekend Night Service)

Stagecoach East Scotland

* X51 (Dunfermline Bus Station, Forth Road Bridge, Queensferry, Kirkliston, Livingston)

Air

Newbridge is about a mile from Edinburgh Airport's Terminal Building.

Tram

Newbridge will be the western terminus of Tram Line 2.

Schools

Newbridge shares Hillwood Primary School with Ratho Station. Newbridge is in the catchment area for Craigmount High School.

Sources

{{authority control Areas of Edinburgh Villages in Edinburgh council area