Greenhill is a small area of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore o ...

, the capital of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Situated south of the city centre, Greenhill is normally taken to be part of Bruntsfield, which skirts it to the north. Greenhill borders

Marchmont Marchmont is a mainly residential area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies roughly one mile to the south of the Old Town, separated from it by The Meadows and Bruntsfield Links. To the west it is bounded by Bruntsfield; to the south-southwest ...

and The Grange to the east, Morningside to the south, and

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 ...

, beyond

Holy Corner Holy Corner is a colloquial name for a small area of Edinburgh, Scotland, and (along with Church Hill) is part of the area more properly known as Burghmuirhead, itself part of the lands of Greenhill. Holy Corner lies between the areas of B ...

, to the west. It comprises a mixture of Georgian and Victorian villas and some

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

housing.

History

Livingstone Mausoleum, Greenhill Edinburgh

The name derives from the former estate of Greenhill, which was one of the original lots purchased when the Edinburgh

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a ''magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judic ...

s feued the Burgh Muir in 1586. The owner was Thomas Aikenhead, an Edinburgh merchant. Two further lots were later added to the original portion of Greenhill, including the ground that became known as Burghmuirhead, and sold to separate owners, one of whom was William Rig. Aikenhead was a skinner (glover) by occupation and held the positions of councillor,

bailie A bailie or baillie is a civic officer in the local government of Scotland. The position arose in the burghs, where bailies formerly held a post similar to that of an alderman or magistrate (see bailiff). Baillies appointed the high constables ...

and Dean of Guild. In 1636, the estate was sold to John Livingston, an Edinburgh

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is a mostly archaic term for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses '' materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons, and patients. The modern chemist (British English) or pharmacist (British and North Americ ...

whose family had become connected to the Aikenheads by marriage. His wife, Elizabeth Rig, appears to have been a relation of William Rig above.

Famous Residents

* Robert McVitie (1854-1910) creator of McVitie's Biscuits lived at 12 Greenhill Gardens * Ron Flockhart (1923-1962) won Le Mans twice driving Jaguar D-Types (1956 and 1957) for the Edinburgh-based Ecurie Ecosse team. He and his parents lived at 8 Greenhill Gardens. He raced in Formula 1, was a test driver for Connaught and BRM teams and also an aviation man who flew his own aircraft to races. He was killed at Kallista on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia in 1962 while preparing for his second attempt at the Sydney to London record for a single engined aircraft. He became lost in fog and slammed into the Dandenong Ranges, dying instantly.

Historical Features

A stone carving depicting the former manor house may still be seen on the wall of a tenement house at the corner of Bruntsfield Place and Bruntsfield Gardens. A walled, roofless structure rebuilt some time after 1894 is the mausoleum of John Livingstone, an

and former

laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in a ...

of the estate. It was paid for by his widow Elizabeth Rig. It stood in the grounds of the manor house before its demolition and is now situated adjacent to a smaller private Victorian villa. A tombstone carries the date 1645. The roughly square area contains an information plaque, memorial bench, and plants. Its continued existence was the subject of a bitter legal dispute after the villa changed ownership.Edinburgh Evening News article: "Facelift as land-feud garden prepares to reopen to public", 25 September 2006
After a lengthy campaign by local residents and local MSP Mike Pringle in 2009, it was confirmed by the

Lands Tribunal for Scotland The Lands Tribunal for Scotland is a Tribunals in the United Kingdom, tribunal with jurisdiction over land and property in Scotland, relating to Title (property), title obligations, Eminent domain, compulsory purchase and other private rights. T ...

to be owned by the

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

br>Edinburgh Evening News article: "Couple lose legal fight over ownership of historic tomb", 4 February 2009
/ref>

Parking

In 2006 the Greenhill area was brought into the "S2" (southern zone 2) controlled parking zone, making the majority of roadside parking available only to residents paying

Council Tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge, which in turn rep ...

and purchasing a permit. This was done in conjunction with an expansion of the controlled parking zone across the city (see transport in Edinburgh).

References

External links