![Craiglockhart Avenue, Edinburgh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Craiglockhart_Avenue%2C_Edinburgh.jpg)
Craiglockhart (; gd, Creag Longairt) is a suburb in the south west of
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, lying between
Colinton
Colinton ( gd, Baile Cholgain) is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated south-west of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north ...
to the south,
Morningside to the east
Merchiston
Merchiston ( ) is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Location
Merchiston Avenue is 1.3 miles Southwest of the West End of Edinburgh's principal street, Princes Street. Other areas near Merchi ...
to the north east, and
Longstone Longstone or Long Stone may refer to
Places
*Longstone, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland
* Longstone, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland
*Longstone, Cornwall, a hamlet in Cornwall, England
*Longstone, Isles of Sc ...
and
Kingsknowe
Kingsknowe (; gd, Cnocan an Righ) is a suburb of Edinburgh the capital of Scotland. It is south-west of Craiglockhart, and borders Wester Hailes, Slateford and Longstone.
History
Knowe comes from the word Knoll, a small hillock. The Kings ...
to the west. The
Water of Leith
The Water of Leith (Scottish Gaelic: ''Uisge Lìte'') is the main river flowing near central Edinburgh, Scotland, and flows into the port of Leith where it flows into the sea via the Firth of Forth.
Name
The name ''Leith'' may be of Britto ...
is also to the west.
History
![Craiglockhart castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Craiglockhart_castle.jpg)
The name is first recorded in 1278 as "Crag quam Stephanus Loccard miles tenuit", thus "Craig (or rock) of Loccard". The family, whose name was changed to
Lockhart Lockhart may refer to:
*Lockhart (surname)
Places
Australia
*Lockhart, New South Wales
*Lockhart River, Queensland
*Lockhart River, Western Australia
United States
*Lockhart, Alabama
*Lockhart, Florida
*Lockhart, Minnesota
*Lockhart, Sout ...
, are credited by
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...
with building
Craiglockhart Castle in the fifteenth century.
The oldest "structure" in the area is the remains of a
vitrified fort
Vitrified forts are stone enclosures whose walls have been subjected to vitrification through heat. It was long thought that these structures were unique to Scotland, but they have since been identified in several other parts of western and norther ...
on the top of Wester
Craiglockhart Hill
Craiglockhart Hill is a combination of two summits, Easter and Wester Craiglockhart, in the suburb of Craiglockhart, Edinburgh.https://edinburghgeolsoc.org/downloads/rigsleaflet_craiglockharta4.pdf Craiglockart and Edinburgh's Seven Hills
East ...
, which is of prehistoric origin. This was somewhat mutilated by the addition of gun-emplacements in World War II, guarding against aerial attack. Excavations show the fort was re-occupied during Roman times.
Craiglockhart Castle dates from the 15th century but is now ruined. The hill is also a
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
(SSSI) due to its diverse biological habitat.
![Craiglockhart, Napier](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Craiglockhart%2C_Napier.jpg)
Redhall (also known was Reidhall) was a
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
on the border between
Longstone Longstone or Long Stone may refer to
Places
*Longstone, Edinburgh, a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland
* Longstone, County Armagh, a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland
*Longstone, Cornwall, a hamlet in Cornwall, England
*Longstone, Isles of Sc ...
and Craiglockhart beside the Water of Leith.
The castle was owned by
Adam Otterburn
Adam Otterburn of Auldhame and Redhall (died 6 July 1548) was a Scottish lawyer and diplomat. He was king's advocate to James V of Scotland and secretary to Mary of Guise and Regent Arran.
The King's lawyer The law brought against the Douglas f ...
, a Scottish lawyer in the 16th century.
It was later besieged and taken by the forces of
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
in 1650.
In the 18th century, the castle was demolished and the stones used to build Redhall House in 1756 under the ownership of George Inglis of Auchendinny.
The associated gardens were designed by James Bowie in 1758. The castle's octagonal
doocot
A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or ba ...
was kept and a
walled garden
A walled garden is a garden enclosed by high walls, especially when this is done for horticultural rather than security purposes, although originally all gardens may have been enclosed for protection from animal or human intruders. In temperate c ...
also created on the north side of the Water of Leith in Longstone.
The house was subsequently inherited by his nephew, Vice-Admiral
John Inglis.
[ By the early 20th century, the House was purchased by the Edinburgh Corporation and converted to a children's home, now since defunct. Some of the adjacent estate has been converted to housing, with the doocot restored, although the main house remains abandoned.]
In Victorian times the area was dominated by hospital buildings: The City Hospital (1896); Old Craig House (1565) converted to an asylum in 1878; its "modern" partner, Craighouse
Craighouse ( gd, Taigh na Creige) is the main settlement and capital of the Scottish Inner Hebridean island of Jura, in Argyll and Bute. In 1971 it had a population of 113. The village is situated on the sheltered east coast of the island at t ...
, purpose-built as part of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a c ...
(1889); the City Poorhouse (1867) later converted to Greenlea's Old People's Home; and Craiglockhart Hydropathic
Craiglockhart Hydropathic, now a part of Edinburgh Napier University and known as Craiglockhart Campus, is a building with surrounding grounds in Craiglockhart, Edinburgh, Scotland. As part of a large extension programme by the university in the ...
Institution, and in the years 1871-1982 this building rose dramatically above and directly overlooked the home playing grounds of Edinburgh University RFC
Edinburgh University Rugby Football Club is a leading rugby union side based in Edinburgh, Scotland which currently plays its fixtures in the Edinburgh Regional Shield competition and the British Universities Premiership. It is one of the eight ...
. Craighouse and The Hydropathic are now part of the campus of Edinburgh Napier University
, mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain
, established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 802
, administrative_staff = 562
, chancellor = Will Whitehorn
, ...
. During the First World War, the hospital was used to house officers suffering from the symptoms of shell-shock
Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...
. Invalids here included the poets Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced by ...
and Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both describ ...
, who met while patients. After the war this the building served as a convent and then a theological school, before passing to the then Napier College.
The area became part of Edinburgh City in 1920 and consequently the area was developed in the 1930s, largely with bungalows and low density housing on the low-lying ground around the Wester and Easter Craiglockhart Hills.
Approximately at the boundary point between Craiglockhart and Merchiston runs the Edinburgh Suburban railway line. There was once a station just off Colinton Road, and this may return, since the line is mooted for re-opening as part of Edinburgh's future transport strategy.
Not until 1899 was Craiglockhart granted its own church, designed by Hay and Henderson, technically a quoad sacra A ''quoad sacra'' parish is a parish of the Church of Scotland which does not represent a civil parish. That is, it had ecclesiastical functions but no local government functions. Since the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, civil parishes have h ...
church linked to Colinton
Colinton ( gd, Baile Cholgain) is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland situated south-west of the city centre. Up until the late 18th century it appears on maps as Collington. It is bordered by Dreghorn to the south and Craiglockhart to the north ...
parish. Its first minister was Robert Walker Mackersy (1833-1902). He was replaced by Alfred William Anderson (b.1869) in 1903.
Craiglockhart today is chiefly residential, with a small proportion of commercial properties, and is in general considered to be a comfortable middle-class area, with a mixture of terraced and detached villas, of a variety of ages.
Ethnicity
Attractions and amenities
Craiglockhart Tennis Centre plays host to large international tennis competitions, with a series of well kept indoor and outdoor courts. One famous product of the centre is Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
, who often trained there. On the same ground is Craiglockhart Sport And Leisure Centre which has a small boating pond (built as a curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...
pond in 1878).
A small cluster of commercial premises remain close to the station site, with a further group located opposite the Craiglockhart Tennis Centre. A small Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
"Express" supermarket has been built on the site of a former petrol station adjacent to the Meggetland playing fields. The opening of this branch of Tesco was vociferously opposed by the Scottish food writer Joanna Blythman,Edinburgh Evening News
who claimed that opening the store would damage the local grocery store at Happy Valley.
There is a
Craiglockhart Primary School
Craiglockhart Primary School is a primary school in the Shandon area of Edinburgh. The school buildings are in the Victorian style of architecture.
History
The school was built in 1901 after a design by architects Robert Wilson and John Alexa ...
, although this is a little to the north of Craiglockhart itself, technically within North
Merchiston
Merchiston ( ) is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Location
Merchiston Avenue is 1.3 miles Southwest of the West End of Edinburgh's principal street, Princes Street. Other areas near Merchi ...
(though commonly described as within
Polwarth or
Shandon.)
References
External links
Bartholomew's ''Chronological map of Edinburgh'' (1919)Craiglockhart Community CouncilCraiglockhart Primary School
{{coord, 55.918117, N, 3.240194, W, display=title, region:GB
Areas of Edinburgh