Heart of Midlothian

Heart of Midlothian may refer to:

See also

Heart of Midlothian (Royal Mile)

Coordinates: 55°56′58.5″N 3°11′29.5″W / 55.949583°N 3.191528°W / 55.949583; -3.191528

The Heart of Midlothian /mɪdˈloʊðiːən/ is a heart-shaped mosaic, formed in coloured granite setts, built into the pavement near the West Door of St Giles High Kirk in the High Street section of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. It is situated close to Parliament House, which formerly housed the Parliament of Scotland and is now the home of the Court of Session.

Together with brass markers bearing building dates, it records the position of the 15th-century Old Tolbooth, demolished in 1817, which was the administrative centre of the town, a prison, and one of several sites of public execution. The building features in Sir Walter Scott's novel The Heart of Midlothian, published in 1818.

The mosaic is named after the historic county of Midlothian of which Edinburgh is the county town. This is not to be confused with the council area of the same name which covers a smaller area and does not include the capital. The crest of the Edinburgh football team Heart of Midlothian is based upon this Heart.

Midlothian

Midlothian (/mɪdˈloʊðiən/; Scots: Midlowden, Scottish Gaelic: Meadhan Lodainn) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders council areas.

Midlothian was also the name of a historic county formed in the Middle Ages. The county included Edinburgh, and was formerly known as Edinburghshire, or more formally as the County of Edinburgh until 1890. The historic county remains a lieutenancy area and a registration county for which purposes Edinburgh is included.

Midlothian Council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, with the boundaries of the Midlothian district of the Lothian region. The district had been created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and it consisted of the local government county of Midlothian, minus the burgh of Musselburgh with the areas of Inveresk, Wallyford and Whitecraig being lost to East Lothian, the Calders (East Calder, Midcalder and West Calder) and the Midlothian part of Livingston to West Lothian, the electoral division of Heriot and Stow to the Ettrick and Lauderdale district of Borders Region, and Currie, Balerno, Ratho and Newbridge to Edinburgh.

Edinburghshire (Parliament of Scotland constituency)

Before the Acts of Union 1707, the barons of the sheriffdom of Edinburgh (also called "Edinburgh principal" to distinguish it from "Edinburgh within the constabulary of Haddington", and now known as Midlothian) elected commissioners to represent them in the Parliament of Scotland and in the Convention of the Estates. After the Union, Edinburghshire returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of Great Britain and later to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

List of shire commissioners

Sources

References

See also

Midlothian (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Midlothian was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it was one of nine constituencies in the Lothians electoral region, which elected seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

For the Scottish Parliament election, 2011, the Midlothian constituency was abolished, with the creation of two new constituencies called Midlothian North and Musselburgh, and Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale.

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the Lothians region from 1999 to 2011 were Edinburgh Central, Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, Edinburgh North and Leith, Edinburgh Pentlands, Edinburgh South, Edinburgh West, Linlithgow and Livingston.

The region covers the City of Edinburgh council area, the West Lothian council area, part of the Midlothian council area, and part of the East Lothian council area.