Gullane

Gullane
Scottish Gaelic: Gualainn[1]

Gullane Village, looking along the A198
Gullane
 Gullane shown within East Lothian
Population 3,783 
OS grid referenceNT486830
Civil parishDirleton
Council areaEast Lothian
Lieutenancy areaEast Lothian
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town Gullane
Postcode district EH31
Dialling code 01620 84****
Police Scottish
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
EU Parliament Scotland
UK ParliamentEast Lothian
Scottish ParliamentEast Lothian
List of places
UK
Scotland

Coordinates: 56°02′13″N 2°49′37″W / 56.037°N 2.827°W / 56.037; -2.827

Gullane church window

Gullane (possibly from Scottish Gaelic Gualainn, meaning "ridge")[2] is a town on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian on the east coast of Scotland. There has been a church in the village since the 9th century. The ruins of the Old Church of St. Andrew built in the 12th century can still be seen at the western entrance to the village; the church was abandoned after a series of sandstorms made it unusable, and Dirleton Parish Church took its place.

Gullane Beach

Gullane Bents, the village's award-winning beach, is backed by large sand dunes that in recent years have become rather overgrown by invasive shrubs like sea-buckthorn. Gullane is part of the John Muir Way, a long-distance footpath along the coast between Musselburgh and Dunglass.

The local population includes many elderly people. Urbanisation has led to some recent housing developments, and Gullane is gaining popularity as a commuter village for nearby Edinburgh (some twenty miles away). Amenities include the village hall and a selection of shops including a chip shop, German bakery and sweet shop. There is a primary school, and secondary school children attend school five miles away in North Berwick. The Scottish Fire Service College is located on Main Street.

Greywalls Hotel was built in 1901 to a design by Sir Edwin Lutyens; the gardens were designed by Gertrude Jekyll. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has its training school at Gullane.

Golf

Gullane is the home of Muirfield which has hosted The Open Championship on numerous occasions, most recently in 2013. In addition to Muirfield, Gullane is the site of several other high-quality golf courses in the village and surrounding area. At the Gullane Golf Club, to which many local residents belong, three interesting 18-hole links courses straddle a large grassed-over volcanic plug.

Aberlady Bay and Pentland Hills over the golf courses

From the top of the hill on each course there is a fine view over Aberlady and Aberlady Bay towards Edinburgh and the Forth Bridge as well as the coast of Fife and the Lomond Hills. Internationally acclaimed artist Frank W Wood painted a magnificent view of Gullane in 1933.

Abutting Gullane Number 3 course is the Luffness Golf Club course, and on open space beside a souvenir store that used to be a blacksmith's forge is a Children's Course, on which adults are not permitted unless accompanied by a child. Gullane numbers 1 and 2 courses and Luffness are often used as Open Championship qualifying courses when the open is at Muirfield. Children are allowed to play on courses numbers 2 and 3 after they graduate from the Children's Course. In midsummer, golf is possible into the late evening, occasionally as late as 10:30 pm, allowing a full round to be completed after dinner. As a result, Gullane is a popular destination for golfing tourists.

Notable residents

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland database". Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  2. ↑ Gaelic Placenames collected by Iain Mac an Tailleir (2003)
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