A substantial western residential development of the Bonnyrigg-Lasswade conurbation in Midlothian, Poltonhall appears on the Ordnance Survey maps in the 19th C. as a small agricultural settlement on the Rosewell road (now A6094). It grew to a population of 595 in 1881 in association with the small Dalhousie Colliery and the larger Polton Colliery to the east. Further development came through the construction of public housing in the late 1950s, with around 200 homes to rent built for the Scottish Special Housing Association (SSHA) next to the existing settlement. Polton Farm was developed with a further 446 homes constructed again for the SSHA from 1968 into the 1970s. Similar houses were also built on De Quincey Road and St. Annes Avenue in the northwest of the area, above Polton village, by the Ministry of Defence to accommodate soldiers and their families.
While many properties have been sold to their tenants under right-to-buy legislation, the Melville Housing Association took ownership of rented properties under a stock-transfer arrangement with Scottish Homes (the successor to the SSHA) in 1995. Further houses were sold, but Melville retain 106 properties for rent. The military houses have all now been sold to their tenants.
Facilities include Hawthornden Primary School, on Polton Avenue Road, Poltonhall Community Hall, Poltonhall Recreation Ground, used as a training ground for the Bonnyrigg Rose Football Academy and the locus for Poltonhall Gala Day, and Poltonhall Sports Complex, which is the home of Lasswade Rugby Football Club. On the site of the former Polton House, above the River North Esk, is the small Poltonhall Industrial Estate.
