Qualla: Gullane

Gullane: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Renata (talk), CC BY-SA 3.0. The medieval church at the west end of Gullane stands roofless against the Firth of Forth wind. In 1612, Lord Erskine of Dirleton petitioned the Scottish Parliament for permission to abandon it. His stated reason was that the building was being engulfed by drifting sand - 'continewallie overblawin with sand,' the petition complained. The likelihood of his claim has since been questioned by historians; the church may simply have been in the wrong place for the eastward shift of parish life. But the sand has done other work here. The same dunes that may or may not have buried a Norman church have made Gullane one of the finest stretches of golfing land in the world - the home of Muirfield, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and three eighteen-hole links courses laid out on a grassed-over volcanic plug.

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Image: Renata (talk) | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gullane: Golyn

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0. The village sits on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian, twenty-two miles east of Edinburgh. There has been a church here since the ninth century. The etymology of the name is genuinely uncertain. It may derive from the Scottish Gaelic Gualainn, meaning shoul...

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Image: Kim Traynor | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gullane: St Andrew's Kirk

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit ArchaicW, CC0. The roofless ruin of St Andrew's Kirk stands at the west end of the village, just north of Main Street. The earliest stone church on the site seems to date from 1150-1200, most likely built by the de Vaux family. The ruin today consists of a nave and chancel, with a late medieval...

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Image: ArchaicW | CC0

Gullane: Lutyens and Jekyll

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0. On the eastern edge of the village stands Greywalls, built in 1901 to a design by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The gardens were laid out by Gertrude Jekyll. The Lutyens-Jekyll partnership produced some of the most influential country house gardens in early twentieth-century Britain, and Gr...

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Image: Richard Webb | CC BY-SA 2.0

Gullane: Three Courses on a Volcanic Plug

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Gullane Golf Club has three eighteen-hole links courses that straddle Gullane Hill - a large grassed-over volcanic plug that gives the courses both their character and their views. A composite course drawn from the three has hosted the Scottish Open and Ladies Scottish Open. ...

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Image: Kim Traynor | CC BY-SA 3.0

Gullane: Fly Past

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Richard Webb, CC BY-SA 2.0. Gullane sits at 56.0371 degrees north, 2.8265 degrees west, on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian. From above, the most distinctive features are Gullane Hill - the grassed-over volcanic plug rising in the village - with three eighteen-hole golf courses laid ...

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Image: Richard Webb | CC BY-SA 2.0