Overview of Lasswade

The village of Lasswade lies on the River North Esk, 9 miles (14.5 km) southwest of Edinburgh, between Dalkeith and Loanhead. Former industries include paper mills, flour mills and a carpet factory. In 1929 it merged with Bonnyrigg. A popular holiday resort in the 19th Century for wealthy Edinburgh residents yet in the 1950s much of the village's population had left for modern houses in Bonnyrigg.

The parish church was built in the 13th century though little today survives. The 18th-century Barony House was known as Lasswade Cottage when Sir Walter Scott rented it (1798 - 1804). He was visited here by the writer James Hogg (the 'Ettrick Shepherd') and the Wordsworths. Nearby Polton was the residence of the writer Thomas de Quincey until his death in 1859. The poet William Drummond of Hawthornden is buried in the old parish church graveyard.

Melville Castle lies to the northeast.