The Inch is a district 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, located to the south of Inch Park in the south of the city. It is located 2 miles (3 km) south south-east of central Edinburgh. It incorporates the Inch housing development, Inch Park and the

category A listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

Inch House, a former country house now used as a community centre. The associated Inch Doocot or dovecot, also a category A listed building, is situated close by, west of Gilmerton Road.

Etymology

The word "Inch" derives from the Scots Gaelic ''innis'' which can mean either "island" or a dry area within marshland or a river meadow. This suggests that the land on which it stands was originally dry land in the flood plain of the nearby

Braid Burn The Braid Burn is a burn or stream in length that flows through south and east Edinburgh. Course The burn forms near Bonaly in the Pentland Hills south-west of the city, when the Bonaly and Howden burns that flow from the Pentlands meet. From ...

The Inch housing development

The housing development is bounded by Old Dalkeith Road to the east, Liberton Road to the west, Kingston Avenue to the south and Glenallan Drive and Inch Park to the north. The housing development began in 1949. The

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had departed from the usual practice of using in-house architects for the design and arranged for a competition open to private firms of architects. The judges were George Macniven, formerly chief architect at the Department of Health for Scotland assisted by the City Architect, Ebenezer MacRae, and Lady Gilmour, a previous resident of the adjacent Inch House. Sixty eight designs were considered and David Stratton Davis of the family firm Stratton Davis & Yates based in

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, England was judged the winner. He was 29 years old. Stratton based his design on Garden City guidelines, popular at the time. This envisaged a self contained community adjacent to large green spaces, in this case Inch Park. As well as preserving as many existing trees as possible many new trees were planted. Vistas were also important in the design so that from the site there are views to the east of

Craigmillar Castle Craigmillar Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is south-east of the city centre, on a low hill to the south of the modern suburb of Craigmillar. The Preston family of Craigmillar, the local feudal barons, began build ...

and to the south and west views of

Blackford Hill Blackford Hill is a hill in Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. It is in the area of Blackford, between Morningside, and the Braid Hills. Together with the Hermitage of Braid, it comprises the Hermitage of Braid and Blackford Hill Loca ...

and the

Pentland Hills The Pentland Hills are a range of hills southwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. The range is around in length, and runs southwest from Edinburgh towards Biggar and the upper Clydesdale. Etymology The name is first recorded for the farm of Pentlan ...

. The design included local amenities like schools and churches and shops. Housing was designed to accommodate families, older people and single people and so contained houses of differing sizes and small flatted-blocks. All housing was low rise. Roofs were finished with slate, pantiles or copper, and the walls were rendered to give a cream finish. Flats were to account for no more than 10% of the housing and each house was to have a garden and drying area, with houses at least back from the pavement. By 1953 the houses were all occupied. In 1955 the

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considered it to be "the best designed local authority housing in Scotland" and presented an award. Many houses in the estate have now passed into private ownership. Many of the streets are named for characters and places in the novels and poems of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...

. A later development to the north-west has street names associated with the poet

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. A parade of shops was built on the main thoroughfare Walter Scott Avenue. The primary schools serving the area are Liberton Primary School and St. John Vianney Roman Catholic Primary School. A

pillar box A pillar box is a type of free-standing post box. They are found in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories, and, less commonly, in many members of the Commonwealth of Nations such as Cyprus, India, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Malta, New Ze ...

placed in November 1952 on Gilmerton Road was the first in Scotland to carry the insignia ''E II R''. There was

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to this on the grounds that Queen Elizabeth was the first of that name to rule over Scotland. The pillar box became the target of attacks and was destroyed by a gelignite bomb on 12 February 1953. The replacement pillar box carried an image of the

Crown of Scotland The Crown of Scotland ( gd, Crùn na h-Alba) is the crown that was used at the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland. It is the oldest surviving crown in the British Isles and dates from at least 1503, although it has been claimed that the cir ...

Inch House

The area grew around Inch House, a Scottish vernacular tower house dating from 1617. It is a category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The house was sold to the City of Edinburgh Council in 1946 and served as a primary school before the building was turned into a community centre.

Inch Park

Inch Park was formerly the estate around Inch House. It is now a public park which incorporates sports pitches, used for rugby and football in winter and cricket in summer. There is a children's play area to the south of the park. It is bounded on the north east by Old Dalkeith Road (A7) and on the northwest by Gilmerton Road (A772). The

, which runs west to east within the northern boundary was the subject of a flood prevention scheme begun in 2010. Ownership passed from the Gilmour family to the

in 1946. In 2009 Inch Park Community Sports Club took over the management of the park from the city Council. The Sports club is a charity registered in Scotland ( SC040057), formed to provide sporting and leisure activities for local sports clubs and the local community. Integral to the plan was the partnership between three sports clubs based at the park, Lismore Rugby Football Club, Edinburgh South Community Football Club and Edinburgh South Cricket Club. The community Sports Club was given an 80-year lease to manage the park. They received initial financial support from the City of Edinburgh Council, The Robertson Trust,

Sportscotland Sportscotland (officially styled sport), formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland. The Scottish Sports Council was established in 1972 by royal charter. The body works in partnership with public, pri ...

and from the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund administered by WREN. The sports facilities include two rugby pitches, two football pitches and a cricket oval. There is a sports pavilion which has changing accommodation, licensed bar, kitchen and meeting room. The Sports Club was given recognition as a Community Sports Hub by Sportscotland, the first such in Scotland. The club is governed by a board of trustees.

Edinburgh South Cricket Club

The cricket club has 3 men's teams in the East of Scotland Cricket Association league. In addition there is a Sunday team, the Edinburgh South Mitres, which play friendly matches. There is also a women's and girls section.

Edinburgh South Community Football Club

The football club has been given the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

Quality Mark as an accredited Platinum Club. It fields some 50 teams in various leagues and stages, involving around 650 players and around 125 volunteer coaches and officials. It provides a pathway for boys from soccer school up to senior football, previously in partnership with Whitehill Welfare until 2020, when the club had their own adult team accepted into the

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Fo ...

(initially to play at

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: �t̪alˈçe is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-cent ...

.Edinburgh South seek a manager after joining East of Scotland League
Edinburgh Evening News, 1 May 2020 A community coach is establishing a similar pathway for girls.

Lismore Rugby Football Club

The rugby union club was founded in 1901 and has played at Inch Park since the 1953/54 season. Previously it was based at various locations. It fields 2 men's teams and a women's team. It is a charity registered in Scotland (SC043329).

Inch plant nursery

The Inch Nursery occupies a 10-acre site to the east of the park. It was formerly the walled garden of Inch House. Owned by the City of Edinburgh Council, it is used to grow most of the plants for the city's municipal gardens and green spaces. It is a training centre for horticulture. Nether_Liberton_Doocot_-_geograph

Inch Doocot

This is the largest remaining doocot (or dovecot) in Edinburgh. It is sited on Gilmerton Road and is a category A listed building. Dating from the 17th century, it has 2 chambers built of sandstone, each with a boarded door and 16 flight holes. Above the chambers is a rat course, designed to stop rats climbing in. The roof is finished with

pantile A pantile is a type of fired roof tile, normally made from clay. It is S-shaped in profile and is single lap, meaning that the end of the tile laps only the course immediately below. Flat tiles normally lap two courses. A pantile-covered roo ...

s. It is estimated that there are around 2000 stone nesting boxes.

References

{{Areas of Edinburgh Areas of Edinburgh