Spread over the northern part of Midlothian lies our Whitehill estate. The core of the estate was purchased in 1969 from the National Coal Board, with further land added in 1970 and 1974, when Upper Dalhousie Farm was acquired.

Although not the largest of our rural estates in Scotland, it is still almost 1,400 hectares (3,500 acres) in size, and includes 7 farms of 40 hectares (100 acres) or more. The type of farming that takes place is mixed arable livestock units.

There are a handful of residential and sporting tenancies, and one Site of Special Scientific Interest at Roslin Glen, let to the Scottish Wildlife Trust. This is a habitat for over 200 species of flowering plants (several of which are rare in Scotland), sixty species of birds and a rich lichen flora.

Minerals

Purchased from the National Coal Board in 1969, the Whitehill estate still retains a mineral interest after Scottish Coal obtained planning permission in 2004 to extract coal by opencast mining on part of Newbigging Farm. The operation, which has recently been extended, is located in the western part of the Whitehill estate, two kilometres south of Rosewell. It is estimated that the site will yield several hundred thousand tonnes of coal, to be supplied to the nearby Cockenzie Power Station.

Contact Us

For further information on the Whitehill estate, please contact our managing agent:

Richard Thompson
Smiths Gore
12 Bernard Street
Edinburgh
EH6 5PY
telephone 0131 561 7102

For minerals

John Pears
Wardell Armstrong LLP
Sir Henry Doulton House
Forge Lane
Etruria
Stoke on Trent
ST1 5BD
telephone 0845 111 7777
fax 0845 111 8888

Further information on other local agents can be found on the Agents page.

For further information on our Scottish holdings, please visit our Scotland page.