Blackshiels, a village in the detached part of Humble parish, Haddingtonshire, surrounded by Edinburghshire, on the road from Edinburgh to Lander, near the N base of Soutra Hill, 16 miles SE of Edinburgh. It has a head post office, with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)