Explainer videos and a weekly newsletter
Independent · Free · Est. 2026
A new local publication
The Midlothian Minute is an independent local publication. We make short explainer videos about the places around us, and each week we send a free newsletter with local news and one topic explained properly, with the sources we used.
Newtongrange
The whole village was planned around the Lady Victoria Colliery, which the Lothian Coal Company began sinking in 1890.
Source: Geograph, Third Street photo notes
What we make
We cover Dalkeith, Bonnyrigg, Penicuik, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Mayfield, Loanhead, Roslin and everywhere in between. Every fact we share comes with a source.
01
Local news from around Midlothian and one topic explained properly, with links to the sources and to our latest videos.
02
Each video looks at one place or moment in Midlothian’s history, using real photos of the place. They go out on Instagram and Facebook.
03
Send us something you’ve always wondered about, such as a street name, an old building or a new development, and we’ll pick one to explain.
Dalkeith · 1879
In 1879 William Gladstone came to Midlothian to win the county’s seat from Lord Dalkeith, heir to the Duke of Buccleuch.
He made speech after speech, including one at the Corn Exchange in Dalkeith, and spoke from a platform on the back of a Pullman railway car. It is often called the first modern political campaign in Britain. At the 1880 election he won by 211 votes and became Prime Minister again.
Roslin
Founded in 1446, the chapel was only ever part of a much bigger cross-shaped church. More than 110 carved Green Men look out from its stone.
Photo: Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0
Roslin
Born at the Roslin Institute on 5 July 1996, Dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, and the only lamb to reach adulthood out of 277 attempts.
Photo: Morley Sewell, CC BY-SA 2.0
Dalkeith
In 1822 George IV made the first visit to Scotland by a reigning monarch in nearly two hundred years, and stayed at Dalkeith House rather than Holyrood.
Photo: kim traynor, CC BY-SA 2.0
Borthwick
In June 1567 Mary, Queen of Scots escaped the castle disguised as a page. The damage from Cromwell’s cannon in 1650 is still in the east wall.
Photo: M J Richardson, CC BY-SA 2.0
Penicuik
During the Napoleonic Wars a Penicuik paper mill held some 6,000 French prisoners. In 1830 a monument was raised to the 309 who died there.
Photo: Mike Pennington, CC BY-SA 2.0
Loanhead
Scotland’s first Palladian villa was built in the 1720s and gutted by fire in 1973. In 2024 the Mavisbank Trust was awarded £5.3 million to stabilise it.
Photo: Jim Barton, CC BY-SA 2.0