Loanhead
Encyclopedia
Loanhead is a small town in Midlothian
, Scotland
, to the south of Edinburgh
, and close to Roslin, Bonnyrigg
and Dalkeith
. The town was built on coal
and shale
mining
, and the paper
industry.
by 1685. The Springfield paper mill
, in the valley of the River North Esk
to the south of the town, commenced in 1742, while Polton
mill followed in 1750. By 1754 Loanhead was a medium-sized settlement.
The limestone
industry was a source of employment by the late eighteenth century, the works being at Burdiehouse
, about a mile to the north west. The coal industry continued to expand and by 1874 the town was linked to the railway. Shale was mined between Loanhead and Burdiehouse in the late nineteenth century, from 1880 under the Clippens Oil Company of Paisley
. By this time the population had expanded to 3,250. The town was granted burgh
status in 1884. The North British Railway
built a steel lattice girder box viaduct across Bilston Glen
in 1892, replacing another which had been designed by Thomas Bouch
.
The shale mines closed in 1909 because of incoming water from the Edinburgh waterworks aqueduct
s. Burdiehouse limeworks ceased in 1912, although limestone was mined in the area until 1960. The Polton paper mill closed in 1955. Coal mining continued, with the large Bilston Glen pit being sunk between 1952 and 1961. It was closed in 1988, and the site cleared. Bilston Glen Colliery at one stage produced 1,000,000 tons of coal per annum, and employed 2,300 men. The coal workings stretched from Rosewell
to Dalkeith. All coal working ceased following the violent strike
s of 1984-1985, when Margaret Thatcher
was Prime Minister. The site is now used as an industrial estate, with businesses including MacSweens haggis
factory, and Lothian and Borders Police Communications Centre (The Force Communications Centre, or FCC) where all radio traffic and emergency calls are handled. The Pentlands industrial estate was opened in the 1970s, and a number of retail and other businesses trade from the periphery of the town.
s. At a local level, the Community Council
provides a forum at which local views can be aired. Loanhead continues to grow, largely due to the influence of the continued development of Straiton Retail Park which includes one of only two IKEA
stores in Scotland, but also increasingly as a dormitory town for Edinburgh, parts of which are under 20 minutes away. Despite the proximity of large stores such as Sainsbury's, Costco and Homebase, the main street, Clerk Street, is busy with traffic and local shoppers.
Loanhead is well known for its annual gala day, also known as "Children's Day". A book to commemorate the 100th Anniversary was published in 2003. Since 2001, an annual weekend music festival, Loanhead Music Festival, has been staged. This increasingly popular event attracts a wide range of mainly acoustic musicians to the town each June, and features around eight venues. As an offshoot from the Festival, Loanhead Guitar Club meets on Wednesday evenings to provide informal tuition and practice opportunities in guitar and other instruments for over 18's.
The Loanhead Miners Club continues to be a major social and community hub for the town, and wide variety of events are run from there. Loanhead Guitar Club meets on Wednesday evenings to provide informal tuition and practice opportunities for over 18's
The town has three primary schools - Paradykes, St. Margaret's (Catholic) and Loanhead Primary. A new joint campus for St. Margaret's and Loanhead Primary was completed and opened in March 2008. The two schools are on the same site but separate allowing the separation of Roman Catholic and secular education but children are able to mix in a range of activities. Several community groups run a variety of clubs including five a side football and Girl Guides
. Loanhead has a small but well used and appointed leisure centre, a small library and a health centre as well a range of local businesses. A small green square in the centre of the town features a memorial to miners killed in the town's coal mines, and large and popular bronze sculpture known as the Coghorn, by Andrew Burton. A small cat originally featured on the tip of the horn, but this was removed by vandals, and is yet to be replaced. A local Palladian mansion, Mavisbank House
, built in 1723 but derelict for many years, featured on the BBC television series Restoration
in 2004.
A large, modern industrial estate with around 100 different concerns provides a wide range of jobs for local residents. A new park and ride
facility, which will provide a high quality bus service into Edinburgh City Centre, opened in 2009. Loanhead is under a mile from the A720 city by-pass
.
The town is twinned with Harnes
in northern France, which also has a strong mining tradition. The town was formerly twinned with Dalum in Denmark, just south of Odense
, on the island of Funen
. In the 1960s, several exchange visits between the two towns took place, but the twinning formally ceased as a consequence of Dalum being absorbed by the much larger Odense.
Harnes
, France
Previously Twinned with } Dalum
, Denmark
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, to the south of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, and close to Roslin, Bonnyrigg
Bonnyrigg
Bonnyrigg is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, eight miles southeast of Edinburgh city centre. The town had a population of 11,260 in the 1991 census which has risen to 14,457 according to the 2001 census. Along with Lasswade, Bonnyrigg is a twin town with Saint-Cyr-l'École, France.- History :Early...
and Dalkeith
Dalkeith
Dalkeith is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the River North Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540...
. The town was built on coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and shale
Shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock composed of mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering...
mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
, and the paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
industry.
History
It was a tiny village by about 1600, when it was included on a map of the Lothians. It was granted a charter allowing a weekly market and annual fair in 1669. Coal was mined profitably in the area for Sir John Clerk of PenicuikClerk Baronets
There has been one creation of baronets with the surname Clerk . It was created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia by Letters Patent dated 24 March 1679, for John Clerk of Pennycuik , whose father, also John Clerk of Penicuik, had returned from Paris in 1647 with a considerable fortune and purchased...
by 1685. The Springfield paper mill
Paper mill
A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags and other ingredients using a Fourdrinier machine or other type of paper machine.- History :...
, in the valley of the River North Esk
River Esk, Lothian
The River Esk is a river which flows through Midlothian and East Lothian, Scotland.It initially runs as two separate rivers, the North Esk and the South Esk....
to the south of the town, commenced in 1742, while Polton
Polton
Polton is a village located in Lasswade parish, Midlothian, Scotland, anciently a superiority of the Ramsay family, cadets of Dalhousie. In 1618 David Ramsay of Polton was in possession. ....
mill followed in 1750. By 1754 Loanhead was a medium-sized settlement.
The limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
industry was a source of employment by the late eighteenth century, the works being at Burdiehouse
Burdiehouse
Burdiehouse is an area in the south east of Edinburgh, Scotland, near Gilmerton and Southhouse. Its name is often stated to be a corruption of Bordeaux-house , but this is by no means certain. Burdiehouse is not an affluent area....
, about a mile to the north west. The coal industry continued to expand and by 1874 the town was linked to the railway. Shale was mined between Loanhead and Burdiehouse in the late nineteenth century, from 1880 under the Clippens Oil Company of Paisley
Paisley
Paisley is the largest town in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland and serves as the administrative centre for the Renfrewshire council area...
. By this time the population had expanded to 3,250. The town was granted burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
status in 1884. The North British Railway
North British Railway
The North British Railway was a Scottish railway company that was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923.-History:...
built a steel lattice girder box viaduct across Bilston Glen
Bilston, Midlothian
Bilston is a small village in Midlothian, Scotland, just south of Loanhead on the A701. It is next to Bilston Glen industrial estate.Bilston Burn is a tributary of the River North Esk...
in 1892, replacing another which had been designed by Thomas Bouch
Thomas Bouch
Sir Thomas Bouch was a British railway engineer in Victorian Britain.He was born in Thursby, near Carlisle, Cumberland, England and lived in Edinburgh. He helped develop the caisson and the roll-on/roll-off train ferry. He worked initially for the North British Railway and helped design parts of...
.
The shale mines closed in 1909 because of incoming water from the Edinburgh waterworks aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....
s. Burdiehouse limeworks ceased in 1912, although limestone was mined in the area until 1960. The Polton paper mill closed in 1955. Coal mining continued, with the large Bilston Glen pit being sunk between 1952 and 1961. It was closed in 1988, and the site cleared. Bilston Glen Colliery at one stage produced 1,000,000 tons of coal per annum, and employed 2,300 men. The coal workings stretched from Rosewell
Rosewell, Midlothian
Rosewell is a former mining village in Midlothian, Scotland, south of Polton and north-east of Rosslynlee.Latitude = 55.8530, Longitude = -3.1356Lat = 55 degrees, 51.2 minutes NorthLong = 3 degrees, 8.1 minutes West-Schools:...
to Dalkeith. All coal working ceased following the violent strike
UK miners' strike (1984–1985)
The UK miners' strike was a major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
s of 1984-1985, when Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
was Prime Minister. The site is now used as an industrial estate, with businesses including MacSweens haggis
Haggis
Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' , minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours. Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.Haggis is a kind...
factory, and Lothian and Borders Police Communications Centre (The Force Communications Centre, or FCC) where all radio traffic and emergency calls are handled. The Pentlands industrial estate was opened in the 1970s, and a number of retail and other businesses trade from the periphery of the town.
Present
Loanhead is administered by Midlothian Council, and following recent boundary changes lies in the new ward of Midlothian West, served by three Midlothian CouncillorCouncillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s. At a local level, the Community Council
Community council
A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain.In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies...
provides a forum at which local views can be aired. Loanhead continues to grow, largely due to the influence of the continued development of Straiton Retail Park which includes one of only two IKEA
IKEA
IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
stores in Scotland, but also increasingly as a dormitory town for Edinburgh, parts of which are under 20 minutes away. Despite the proximity of large stores such as Sainsbury's, Costco and Homebase, the main street, Clerk Street, is busy with traffic and local shoppers.
Loanhead is well known for its annual gala day, also known as "Children's Day". A book to commemorate the 100th Anniversary was published in 2003. Since 2001, an annual weekend music festival, Loanhead Music Festival, has been staged. This increasingly popular event attracts a wide range of mainly acoustic musicians to the town each June, and features around eight venues. As an offshoot from the Festival, Loanhead Guitar Club meets on Wednesday evenings to provide informal tuition and practice opportunities in guitar and other instruments for over 18's.
The Loanhead Miners Club continues to be a major social and community hub for the town, and wide variety of events are run from there. Loanhead Guitar Club meets on Wednesday evenings to provide informal tuition and practice opportunities for over 18's
The town has three primary schools - Paradykes, St. Margaret's (Catholic) and Loanhead Primary. A new joint campus for St. Margaret's and Loanhead Primary was completed and opened in March 2008. The two schools are on the same site but separate allowing the separation of Roman Catholic and secular education but children are able to mix in a range of activities. Several community groups run a variety of clubs including five a side football and Girl Guides
Girl Guides
A Guide, Girl Guide or Girl Scout is a member of a section of some Guiding organisations who is between the ages of 10 and 14. Age limits are different in each organisation. It is the female-centred equivalent of the Scouts. The term Girl Scout is used in the United States and several East Asian...
. Loanhead has a small but well used and appointed leisure centre, a small library and a health centre as well a range of local businesses. A small green square in the centre of the town features a memorial to miners killed in the town's coal mines, and large and popular bronze sculpture known as the Coghorn, by Andrew Burton. A small cat originally featured on the tip of the horn, but this was removed by vandals, and is yet to be replaced. A local Palladian mansion, Mavisbank House
Mavisbank House
Mavisbank is a country house outside Loanhead, south of Edinburgh in Midlothian, Scotland. It was designed by the architect William Adam, in collaboration with his client, Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, and was constructed between 1723 and 1727. It is described by Historic Scotland as "one of...
, built in 1723 but derelict for many years, featured on the BBC television series Restoration
Restoration (TV series)
Restoration, Restoration, Restoration is a set of BBC television series where viewers decided on which listed building that was in immediate need of remedial works was to win a grant from Heritage Lottery Fund...
in 2004.
A large, modern industrial estate with around 100 different concerns provides a wide range of jobs for local residents. A new park and ride
Park and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
facility, which will provide a high quality bus service into Edinburgh City Centre, opened in 2009. Loanhead is under a mile from the A720 city by-pass
Edinburgh City Bypass
The Edinburgh City Bypass, designated as A720, is one of the most important trunk roads in Scotland. Circling around the south of Edinburgh, as the equivalent of a ring road for the coastal city, it links together the A1 towards north-east England, the A702 towards north-west England, the M8...
.
The town is twinned with Harnes
Harnes
Harnes is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Harnes is an ex-coalmining and light industrial town situated some northeast of Lens, at the junction of the D162e and the D39...
in northern France, which also has a strong mining tradition. The town was formerly twinned with Dalum in Denmark, just south of Odense
Odense
The city of Odense is the third largest city in Denmark.Odense City has a population of 167,615 and is the main city of the island of Funen...
, on the island of Funen
Funen
Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...
. In the 1960s, several exchange visits between the two towns took place, but the twinning formally ceased as a consequence of Dalum being absorbed by the much larger Odense.
Notable people
- Gary NaysmithGary NaysmithGary Andrew Naysmith is a Scottish footballer, currently playing for Huddersfield Town in League One and has been capped for the Scotland national team 46 times...
(born 1978), Scottish International footballer who currently plays for Sheffield United, and formerly for Heart Of Midlothian and Everton. He was named Scottish PFA Young Player of the YearScottish PFA Young Player of the YearThe Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year is named at the end of every Scottish football season. The members of the Professional Footballers' Association vote on which of its young members played the best football in the previous year. The award was first given in 1978.- List of winners :-Winners...
in 1998. - Charles Forte, Baron ForteCharles Forte, Baron ForteCharles Forte, Baron Forte was a British caterer and hotelier. His obituary in The Guardian obituary stated that: He created a worldwide empire of restaurants and hotels from virtually nothing-Early life:...
(1908–2007), the hotelier, worked in an Italian cafe in the High Street, on his arrival in Scotland from ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. - Sir William MacTaggartWilliam MacTaggartSir William MacTaggart was a Scottish painter known for his landscapes of East Lothian, France, Norway and elsewhere. He is sometimes called William MacTaggart the Younger to distinguish him from his grandfather, the painter William McTaggart.-Life and work:William MacTaggart was born at Loanhead...
(1903–1981), artist, and grandson of the artist William McTaggart, he became President of the Society of Scottish Artists, President of the Royal Scottish AcademyRoyal Scottish AcademyThe Royal Scottish Academy is a Scottish organisation that promotes contemporary Scottish art. Founded in 1826, as the Royal Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts, the RSA maintains a unique position in Scotland as an independently funded institution led by eminent artists and...
, and Trustee of the National Museum of Antiquities. - George ForrestGeorge Forrest (botanist)George Forrest was a Scottish botanist, who was one of the first explorers of China's then remote southwestern province of Yunnan, generally regarded as the most biodiverse province in the country....
(1873–1932), a plant collector who gained fame with his expeditions to the far east, he spent a significant part of his early years in the town in a house in Linden Place, which sports a plaque marking the fact.
Twin Town
HarnesHarnes
Harnes is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Harnes is an ex-coalmining and light industrial town situated some northeast of Lens, at the junction of the D162e and the D39...
, France
Previously Twinned with } Dalum
Funen
Funen , with a size of 2,984 km² , is the third-largest island of Denmark following Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy, and the 163rd largest island of the world. Funen is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 454,358 inhabitants . The main city is Odense, connected to the...
, Denmark