The population of the village was 1,566 according to the 2011 Census but is significantly greater since the number of houses has doubled in the last 20 years. .[4]
History
Rosewell, 1898
The colliery village was established by Archibald Hood, mining engineer and entrepreneur, who developed the Whitehill Colliery from 1856, which was located on the south-western edge of the village. He began a new shaft at the colliery in 1878, built railways for the mines (branching from the Peebles Railway) and erected well-designed houses for the miners, and also encouraged the establishment of a Co-operative Retail Society.[5]
In 1890 he amalgamated his company with the mining interests of the Marquess of Lothian to form the Lothian Coal Company.[5] The colliery was named after Whitehill House to the east and was also known as Rosewell. On 1 January 1947 the National Coal Board took over the colliery from the Lothian Coal Company, when mines in Britain were nationalised. The colliery had 3 deep shafts and one surface mine. It reached peak production in 1950, but closed in 1961. [6]
Archibald Hood lived at Rosedale in the south of the village, which is now a category C listed building. This is a mid 19th century two storey gabled house which was later used by the Lothian Coal Company as a house for its managers, in particular his son James Archibald Hood.[7]
The Rosewell Institute, in Carnethie Street, was built for the Lothian Coal Company as a miners' institute in 1917. The Institute was built on an impressive scale with finely detailed sandstone features.[8]
Rosewell was served by a railway station lying between Rosewell and Hawthornden. The station opened in 1855 under the name Hawthornden, but was renamed Rosewell and Hawthornden in 1928. It was served by the Peebles Railway, a branch line of the Waverley Line. Services ran from Peebles to Waverley Station in Edinburgh. The station was closed in 1962 but the line remained in use for goods traffic until 1967, although the colliery had already closed by then.[9]
Schools
Rosewell has two primary schools, namely Rosewell Primary School and St Matthew's (Catholic) Primary School. The village is in the catchment area for Lasswade High School, and St David's Catholic High School.
The village has two churches, Rosewell Parish Church (Church of Scotland) and St Matthew's Roman Catholic Church.
Rosewell Parish Church was built 1871-72 and opened for worship in 1874, when Rosewell became a separate ecclesiastical parish. The population of this new quoad sacra parish was recorded as 1,394 in 1881.[2] In 2008 Rosewell Parish Church was formally re-united with Lasswade Church, forming Lasswade and Rosewell Parish Church (with a single minister and Kirk Session, although retaining both places of worship).[10]
Whitehill House
Situated half a mile south-east of the village, the category A-listed Whitehill House is a large Tudor-Jacobean revival house designed by David Bryce and William Burn, built 1844 as a home for Wardlaw Ramsay, proprietor of the nearby Whitehill Colliery. The house was later acquired by the engineer Archibald Hood.[11] In World War I it was used as a Red Cross hospital. The Scottish nurse, suffragist and writer Flora Masson worked there. [12] Until the late 1990s, Whitehill House was run by nuns of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul as St. Joseph's Hospital for children with learning disabilities. St. Joseph's also provided care for adults with learning disabilities. It was visited by Pope John Paul II when he visited Scotland in 1982. Since the hospital closed, the charity St Joseph's Services[13] continues to support people with learning disabilities in houses across Midlothian. They have their headquarters in Carnethie Street, Rosewell. Whitehill House is now privately owned and has a 20-hole (18 holes plus 2 bonus holes) golf course in its grounds. A number of exclusive houses have also been built in the grounds.
Football
Whitehill Welfare play their home matches at Ferguson Park, Rosewell. They currently play in the East of Scotland First Division. Heart of Midlothian B played their Lowland League matches at Ferguson Park for the 2022-23 season.
Born in Rosewell, Tom Wilson played for Whitehill in the 1950s before joining Falkirk and then having a successful career in English professional football.[14][15]
↑ Census of Scotland 2011, Table KS101SC – Usually Resident Population, publ. by National Records of Scotland. Web site http://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ retrieved Oct 2016. See “Standard Outputs”, Table KS101SC, Area type: Settlement
Midlothian 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 council area, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders.
Dalkeith is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-century castle . Dalkeith has a population of 12,342 people according to the 2011 census.
Bonnyrigg is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, which is eight miles southeast of Edinburgh city centre, between the Rivers North and South Esk. The town had a population of 14,663 in the 2001 census which rose to 15,677 in the 2011 census, both figures based on the 2010 definition of the locality which, as well as Bonnyrigg and the adjacent settlement of Lasswade, includes Polton village, Poltonhall housing estate and modern development at Hopefield. The estimated population for 2018 is 18,120, the highest of any town in Midlothian. Along with Lasswade, Bonnyrigg is a twin town with Saint-Cyr-l'École, France.
The River Esk, also called the Lothian Esk, is a river that flows through Midlothian and East Lothian, Scotland.
Loanhead is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, in a commuter belt to the south of Edinburgh, and close to Roslin, Bonnyrigg and Dalkeith. The town was built on coal and oil shale mining, and the paper industries.
Lasswade is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, nine miles south of Edinburgh city centre, contiguous with Bonnyrigg and between Dalkeith to the east and Loanhead to the west. Melville Castle lies to the north east. The Gaelic form is Leas Bhaid, meaning the "clump at the fort."
Newtongrange is a former mining village in Midlothian, Scotland. Known in local dialect as Nitten, or Nitten by the Bing , it became Scotland's largest mining village in the 1890s, with the sinking of the Lady Victoria Colliery and a shaft over 1600 feet deep. This closed in 1981 but today houses the National Mining Museum, an Anchor Point of ERIH - The European Route of Industrial Heritage.
The EH postcode area, also known as the Edinburgh postcode area, is a group of 55 postcode districts for post towns: Armadale, Balerno, Bathgate, Bo'ness, Bonnyrigg, Broxburn, Currie, Dalkeith, Dunbar, East Linton, Edinburgh, Gorebridge, Gullane, Haddington, Heriot, Humbie, Innerleithen, Juniper Green, Kirkliston, Kirknewton, Lasswade, Linlithgow, Livingston, Loanhead, Longniddry, Musselburgh, Newbridge, North Berwick, Ormiston, Pathhead, Peebles, Penicuik, Prestonpans, Rosewell, Roslin, South Queensferry, Tranent, Walkerburn, West Calder and West Linton in Scotland.
Newbattle is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland. The village lies south of Dalkeith, about seven miles from Edinburgh. It is notable for containing Newbattle Abbey, a stately home built on the site of a 12th-century Cistercian monastery.
Danderhall is a village in Midlothian, Scotland, just outside Edinburgh but inside the Edinburgh City Bypass.
David Johnstone Pryde was a Scottish Labour politician.
Archibald Hood was a Scottish engineer and coalowner who became an important figure in the industrial growth of the Rhondda Valley. The son of a colliery official, Hood would make his name as a coalowner of collieries first in Scotland and later in Llwynypia in South Wales.
Cockpen and Carrington Parish Church is located to the south of the town of Bonnyrigg in Midlothian, Scotland. It is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The parish includes the south side of the town of Bonnyrigg, plus the rural area to the south of the town.
The Peebles Railway was a railway company that built a line connecting the town of Peebles in Peeblesshire, Scotland, with Edinburgh. It opened on 4 July 1855, and it worked its own trains.
The Esk Valley Railway was a short branch line built to serve industry in the valley of the River North Esk, south of Edinburgh in Scotland. The terminus was Polton. The line opened on 15 April 1867
Cockpen is a parish in Midlothian, Scotland, containing at its north-west corner the town of Bonnyrigg, which lies two miles (3.2 km) south-west of Dalkeith. It is bounded on the west and north by the parish of Lasswade, on the east, by Newbattle and on the south by Carrington. It extends about three miles (4.8 km) from north to south and its greatest breadth is about 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km).
Glencorse is a parish of Midlothian, Scotland, lying 7 miles south of Edinburgh. It is bounded on the north-west by the former parish of Colinton now within the City of Edinburgh, to the north and west by Lasswade and to the south and west by Penicuik.
Cranston is a parish of Midlothian, Scotland, lying 4+1⁄4 miles south-east of Dalkeith. It is bounded by the parishes of Inveresk and Ormiston on the east, by Crichton and Borthwick on the south ; and by Newbattle on the west and north. The River Tyne flows through the centre of the parish.
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