Murrayfield is an affluent area to the 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 ...

city centre in

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 ...

. It is to the east of

Corstorphine Corstorphine (Scottish Gaelic: ''Crois Thoirfinn'') ( ) is an area of the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh. Formerly a separate village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, it is now a suburb of the city, having been formally incorporate ...

and north of

Balgreen Balgreen ( or ) (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile Griain)'' is a suburb of Edinburgh, located approximately two miles west of the city centre, most commonly known for its primary school, Balgreen Primary. It is located to the west of Murrayfield ...

and

Roseburn Roseburn is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The area lies in the west of the city, approximately a 20-minute walk from the city centre, west of Haymarket and close to the Murrayfield area (and Murrayfield Stadium). It is immed ...

. The

A8 road A8, A08, A 8 or A-8 may refer to: Electronics * ARM Cortex-A8, a processor used in mobile devices * Apple A8, a 64-bit system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. *AMD A8, an AMD Accelerated Processing Unit * Samsung Galaxy A8, various smartpho ...

runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often considered to include the smaller neighbouring areas of

Ravelston Ravelston is an affluent area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to the west of the city centre, the east of Corstorphine and Clermiston, the north of Murrayfield, West End and Roseburn and to the south of Queensferry Road (the A90). Ravelston is often ...

(to the north) and

(to the south).

History

The name comes from the estate of Archibald Murray who built Murrayfield House for himself in 1735 on the south-facing slopes over the area. Archibald Murray bought the land from Nisbet of Dean in 1733; it was previously Nisbet's Park.

Alexander Murray, Lord Henderland Alexander Murray, Lord Henderland (11 May 1736 – 16 March 1795) was a Scottish judge and politician. Life Born at Murrayfield House west of Edinburgh's Old Town on 11 May 1736, he was the son of Archibald Murray of Cringletie, an advocate. ...

was born here the year after its construction. Much of the Murrayfield area was semi-rural up until the early 19th century. Among mansion houses built then was Belmont House in 1828 by architect

William Playfair William Playfair (22 September 1759 – 11 February 1823), a Scottish engineer and political economist, served as a secret agent on behalf of Great Britain during its war with France. The founder of graphical methods of statistics, Playfai ...

for Lord Mackenzie and a large villa known as Rock Villa (later Rockshiel) appears on the

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Map of 1855. The OS map from the 1890s suggests this area remained spacious with scattered individual houses and villas throughout the nineteenth-century. Easter Belmont Road (a private road), is one of Edinburgh's "Millionaire's Rows" and is home to local businessman David Murray. Aside from sports facilities, there is much residential land use and a private hospital,

Spire Murrayfield Hospital A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

, part of the

Spire Healthcare Spire Healthcare Group plc is the second-largest provider of private healthcare in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Spire Healthcare was formed from the sale of B ...

group. There are also a few shops, businesses and hotels.

Sports

Murrayfield is known for

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium (known as BT Murrayfield Stadium for sponsorship reasons, or popularly as Murrayfield) is a Rugby stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It has a seating capacity of 67,144 making it the largest sta ...

, home to the

Scottish national rugby union team The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in men's international rugby union and is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, w ...

and venue for many sporting events. In the shadow of the stadium is

Murrayfield Ice Rink Murrayfield Ice Rink is a 3,800-seat multi-purpose arena in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland, adjacent to Murrayfield Stadium. It was built between 1938 and 1939 and is home to the Edinburgh Capitals ice hockey team and a seven-shee ...

, which currently hosts the

Edinburgh Capitals The Edinburgh Capitals are a Scottish ice hockey club, playing in the Scottish National League (SNL). They are based in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The team play at the Murrayfield Ice Rink, close to Murrayfield Rugby stadium. In Apri ...

ice hockey team and previously played host to the famous

Murrayfield Racers The Murrayfield Racers were an ice hockey team based in Edinburgh, Scotland who were founded in 1952 as the Murrayfield Royals before changing their name to the Murrayfield Racers in 1966. The team won the British Championship four times in ...

. In the 2006-07 season, Heart of Midlothian played their

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

ties at Murrayfield.

has also been the venue for some large concerts. In addition to the stadium, there are Murrayfield Lawn Tennis Club and Murrayfield golf course which is between

and

Corstorphine Hill Corstorphine Hill is a low ridge-shaped hill rising above the western suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. Although there has been residential and commercial development on its lower slopes, especially in the south and west, most of the hill is occu ...

. The tennis club was founded in 1904 as The West Edinburgh Tennis and Croquet Club. Murrayfield Golf Club was founded in 1896 and its initial membership was limited to '300 gentlemen and 200 ladies'; in 1904 it was laid out on Ravelston Estate west of Murrayfield Road. Murrayfield Golf Club is notable for having been a mixed club from the start with female members having the same rights and privileges as the men.

Schools

The well-known independent schools, St. George's School for Girls and the

Merchant Company of Edinburgh The Royal Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh, previously known as the Merchant Company of Edinburgh is a mercantile company and Guild officially recognised in 1681, but dating back to at least 1260. The Company, or Confraternity, was ...

The Mary Erskine School The Mary Erskine School, popularly known as "Mary Erskine's" or "MES", is an all-girls independent secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1694 and has a roll of around 750 pupils. It is the sister school of the all-boys Stewa ...

for girls are situated in the Murrayfield area. The local primary school for most is Roseburn Primary School and Murrayfield is part of the

Craigmount High School Craigmount High School is a non-denominational secondary school in Edinburgh, Scotland with 1,269 pupils located in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated between Corstorphine, East Craigs and Drumbrae and it moved into new premises at ...

catchment area. The nearest Roman Catholic schools are Fox Covert R.C. Primary School and St. Augustine's High School.

Notable residents

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy MBE (born 23 March 1976) is a former track cyclist and Racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympic and World Championships and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games. Hoy is eleven-times a wor ...

grew up on the boundary of Corstorphine and Murrayfield.

References

External links