Newcraighall ( sco, Newcraighauch,
/ref> gd, Talla na Creige Nuadh)Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba ~ Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland
/ref> is a South-Eastern suburb of Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, Scotland. A former mining village, its prosperity was based on the Midlothian coalfields. The Newcraighall pit was known as 'Klondyke' and closed in the 1960s, work transferring to nearby Bilston Glen and in particular the last-to-close (1998) Monktonhall pit. The village had a church, a Co-op
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
and a miners' club (demolished after a fire on 15 July 2009) and bowling green
A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls.
Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...
. Newcraighall now plays host to an out-of-town shopping complex, Fort Kinnaird, previously known as ''The Fort'' (south of Newcraighall Road) and ''Kinnaird Park'' (north). Today, the retail park is still more commonly referred to as "The Fort" by residents.
Newcraighall railway station is on the newly reopened Borders Railway
The Borders Railway connects the city of Edinburgh with Galashiels and Tweedbank in the Scottish Borders. The railway follows most of the alignment of the northern part of the Waverley Route, a former double-track line in southern Scotland ...
which runs from Edinburgh to Tweedbank and was formerly part of the Waverley Route
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 ...
to Carlisle its closure (Closed 5 January 1969) following the Beeching Report in 1963.
Newcraighall was the setting for the film ''My Childhood'' by Bill Douglas. There is a plaque to Douglas in the village. The village also contained a bridge that features in a scene from the film, however it was demolished in 2015. The village also contains a sculpture by Jake Harvey which celebrates the mining tradition of the area. On Newcraighall Road is th
Craigmillar Arts Centre
with a Woman of Achievement plaque for Helen Crummy, who lived in Newcraighall for many years.
References
External links
Fort Kinnaird, Newcraighall, EdinburghGoogle map showing local paths
{{Areas of Edinburgh
Areas of Edinburgh