Whitehill () is a village in Midlothian in the south-east of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, approximately 1.5 miles (2 km) south-east of Dalkeith and 8.5 miles (13.6 km) from

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 ...

. The village is situated on the northwest slope of the Mayfield-

Tranent Tranent is a town in East Lothian (formerly Haddingtonshire), in the south-east of Scotland. The town lies 6 miles from the boundary of Edinburgh, and 9.1 miles from the city centre. It lies beside the A1 road, the A1 runs through the paris ...

ridge which spans the border between Midlothian and East Lothian. Both road entrances to the village offer magnificent panoramic views over Edinburgh, the Firth of Forth and 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 Pentla ...

Etymology

The name of the village comes from the name of the farmstead situated near to the entrance/exit of the village towards

Edgehead Edgehead (also known as Chesterhill) is a village in Midlothian, Scotland. Location Edgehead is situated east of Dewartown and Mayfield, north-west of Pathhead and south-east of Dalkeith. Two areas of woodland, Windmill Wood and Chesterhill ...

. The name of the farm may have been derived from the definition of unploughed arable farmland as being 'white' or from the definition of hill land that is covered with bent grass (rather than bracken or heather) as being 'white'. Snow can fall and accumulate during the winter months and, as the village is at higher elevation than the Esk valley, this could also be the origin of the name.

History

Whitehill is located on

Dere Street Dere Street or Deere Street is a modern designation of a 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 into what is n ...

, an ancient Roman road that linked the fort at

Cramond Cramond Village (; gd, Cathair Amain) is a village and suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman ac ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. Part of this road are visible further down the A68 at

Soutra Soutra Aisle, (the present structure lies just within the boundary of the Scottish Borders from Midlothian) not far from Fala, is the remains of the ''House of the Holy Trinity'', a church that was part of a complex comprising a hospital and a ...

. Map records from 1821 show that the village grew from individual houses/buildings at Wet Holm and Whitehill. Farming and mining increased the population of the village during the agricultural and industrial revolutions with map records from 1892 showing the village was then home to both a school and a blacksmith. To the northwest of Whitehill is the former Dalkeith Fever Hospital, erected in 1912 on land gifted to the town of Dalkeith by the

Duke of Buccleuch Duke of Buccleuch (pronounced ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and second suo jure for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Cou ...

, which is now part of a small industrial estate. During their service in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

four young men from the village were killed. Corporal Arthur Neil Simpson, 22, of the

King's Regiment (Liverpool) The King's Regiment (Liverpool) was one of the oldest line infantry regiments of the British Army, having been formed in 1685 and numbered as the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot in 1751. Unlike most British Army infantry regiments, which were ...

was killed in action on the 16th of June 1915 most likely as part of the 1/10th Battalion at Bellewaarde. Private William Robert Watson of the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regime ...

(Royal Highlanders) died from wounds received in action on the 30th of July 1916 possibly in the aftermath of the

Battle of Delville Wood The Battle of Delville Wood was a series of engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War, between the armies of the German Empire and the British Empire. Delville Wood , was a thick tangle of trees, chiefly beech and ...

. Private John Ferguson Macrae Pringle, 21, of the Cameron Highlanders was killed in action on the 15th of September 1916 most likely at the

Battle of Flers–Courcelette The Battle of Flers–Courcelette (, 15 to 22 September 1916) was fought during the Battle of the Somme in France, by the French Sixth Army and the British Fourth Army and Reserve Army, against the German 1st Army, during the First World War. ...

as part of the Battle of the Somme. Private Samuel Brown Smith, 22, of the

Royal Scots The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment), once known as the Royal Regiment of Foot, was the oldest and most senior infantry regiment of the line of the British Army, having been raised in 1633 during the reign of Charles I of Scotland. The regime ...

died on the 16th of August 1917 most likely on the first day of the Battle of Langemarck. In 2010 the village was in the news due to a police raid on a property which housed one of the largest cannabis farms discovered in the Lothians. Officers found approximately 1,000 plants with an estimated value of around £500,000. In 2013 representations to the Midlothian Local Development Plan consultation, Lord Ralph Kerr, landowner of fields surrounding the village, brought forward proposals for twelve terraced houses to be built on the farmland adjacent to the village. Midlothian Council's response cited the existing allocation of housing being sufficient to meet requirements, the relatively poor public transport provision, lack of facilities, poor access to schools, the demarcation of the proposed site as being prime agricultural land and the negative impact such a development would have on the landscape.

Administration

The village is in the Midlothian constituency for elections to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

, the Midlothian North & Musselburgh constituency for elections to the Scottish Parliament and the Midlothian East electoral ward for local council elections. The people in the village are represented by the Dalkeith & District Community Council apart from residents of the Witholm cul-de-sac which is in the Mayfield & Easthouses Community Council boundary area.

Transport

The village used to be on the main route from Edinburgh to

Jedburgh Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in s ...

, though after the construction of the road bridge designed by

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

across Tyne Water near

Pathhead Pathhead ( sco, Paithheid) is an area of Kirkcaldy, in Fife, Scotland. Pathhead was an independent village before it was incorporated into the Royal burgh of Kirkcaldy. In Jan Blaeu's map of Scotland from the 17th century reference is made to ...

in 1831, the preferred route shifted to the northeast. The bus service between Edinburgh and Jedburgh still passes through the village. An hourly service run by

Borders Buses Borders Buses operates both local and regional bus services in the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and Scottish Borders, Scotland, as well as Cumbria and Northumberland, England. It is a subsidiary of West Coast Motors. History T ...

links the village with Edinburgh, via Dalkeith. The trip takes around 43 minutes. The number 51 continues south to

whilst the 52 continues south to Kelso. During westerly operations at

Edinburgh Airport Edinburgh Airport is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by ...

the village is below the flightpath for arrivals from the south, though aircraft are at an altitude of over 4,000 ft so have limited noise impact on residents.

Sport

Despite sharing a name and being in the same area there is no direct link between the village and nearby football club, Whitehill Welfare F.C.

References