Danderhall

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Danderhall is a village in Midlothian, Scotland, just outside Edinburgh and near the Edinburgh City Bypass. As of 2020, about 3,160 people live there. The village has a lot of council housing, though many homes are now privately owned. It grew as a mining village, supplying coal to nearby mines at Edmonstone, Sheriffhall, Woolmet and Monktonhall (which closed in 1998).

Danderhall has around 1,200 homes, plus a library, a primary school and two churches (Church of Scotland and Calvary Chapel of Edinburgh). The Danderhall and District Community Council area also covers Millerhill, Newton Village, Hilltown and some farms. The civil parish of Newton covers 856 hectares and had about 3,258 residents in 2011. Danderhall is twinned with Angres, France.

Woolmet Hill to the east is a local landmark. In the past, Woolmet House stood nearby, built around 1590 for Archibald Napier, but it was demolished in the 1950s after subsidence from Woolmet Colliery. An ornamental doorway from the house remains attached to the Miners’ Welfare Club. Woolmet Colliery opened in 1898, closed in 1966, and at its peak employed about 700 people, producing around 200,000 tons of coal a year.

Today, Danderhall is served by Shawfair railway station on the Borders Railway and lies along the A7 road. Sheriffhall park-and-ride is nearby, with bus route 33 to Edinburgh, and routes 46 and 48 connecting Dalkeith and Musselburgh.

Notable people from Danderhall include footballers Grant Brebner and Kevin Twaddle, bowls champion David Peacock, and darts player Rab Stewart.