The old
parish church was built in the 13th century, though little of it survives today. It was abandoned in 1793, and much of its ruins collapsed in 1866. The 17th-century Scottish poet
William Drummond of Hawthornden was buried within its grounds. The first paper mill was built in Lasswade in 1750, and papermaking remained important until the start of the 20th century.
Sir John Lauder, 1st Baronet of Fountainhall was born at Melville Mill, Lasswade, in 1595; and the present 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.
Thomas de Quincey, author of
Confessions of an English Opium Eater, also lived in nearby
Polton for some years, from 1843, in the cottage now known as de Quincey Cottage. The Scottish
landscape artist William McTaggart moved to Lasswade in 1889, and many of his later works depict the
Moorfoot Hills. Former 19th-century industries include paper mills, flour mills and a carpet factory. Created a
police burgh in 1881, Lasswade merged with
Bonnyrigg in 1929. It was a popular holiday resort in the 19th century for wealthy Edinburgh residents; yet, by the 1950s, much of the village's population had left for modern houses in Bonnyrigg. Groome (1885) noted as chief proprietors in the parish: Lieut.-Col. Gibsone of Pentland, Viscount Melville, Drummond of Hawthornden, Sir Geo. Clerk of Penicuik, and Mrs Durham of Polton. The estates along both banks of the Esk were: • left bank:
Mavisbank House, Dryden Bank, Dryden, and Rosebank • right bank: Eldin (residence of
John Clerk, F.R.S. (1728–1812), inventor of the
naval tactic of breaking the
enemy's line), Polton, Springfield, Glenesk, Hawthornden, Gorton, and Auchendinny (residence of
Henry Mackenzie, the author of
The Man of Feeling) ==Other notable buildings==