Abbeyhill is an 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 of t ...

, 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 ...

. Abbeyhill is one of the oldest parts of the city, taking its name from Holyrood Abbey, a major historic religious site. The main east-west thoroughfare through the area is London Road, laid in the 1820s as part of the Calton development of the New Town. This superseded an older road to Haddington which still skirts the north side of the Holyrood Park. As with many other parts of the city, the area has varying definitions. Generally it may be taken to mean the part of town lying between

Holyrood Park Holyrood Park (also called the Queen's Park or King's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender) is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It is open to the public. It has an array of hills, loc ...

(and perhaps The Palace of Holyroodhouse itself) to the south; London Road and adjoining streets to the north;

Calton Hill Calton Hill () is a hill in central Edinburgh, Scotland, situated beyond the east end of Princes Street and included in the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site. Views of, and from, the hill are often used in photographs and paintings of the cit ...

and the yards of

Waverley Station Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

to the west; and Meadowbank to the east. It is in the locale of the Scottish Parliament building, contains several old churches and other historic sites, and looks onto the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Geography

The suburb is largely composed of streets of Tenement housing, such as Waverley Park and Milton Street, built in the mid-1890s on the grounds of Comely Gardens, a pleasure garden belonging to a local mansion, which operated along the same lines as London's Vauxhall Gardens. It was from here that James Tytler made Britain's first hot-air balloon flight in 1784, landing about half a mile away in

Restalrig Restalrig () is a small residential suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland (historically, an estate and independent parish). It is located east of the city centre, west of Craigentinny and to the east of Lochend, both of which it overlaps. Restalri ...

. Another area of distinctive and beautiful character is "the rows", several streets of

colony houses The colony houses of Edinburgh were built between 1850 and 1910 as homes for artisans and skilled working-class families by philanthropic model dwellings companies. The first development was the Pilrig Model Buildings, near Leith Walk. Later de ...

on the north side of London Road. The south side of Lower London Road, sloping down to Meadowbank, is a mix of earlier small-scale industrial premises and newer residential housing. In recent years, Abbeyhill has seen more independent shops, bars and cafés, as well as significant residential investment, with new modern flats being built alongside the existing Victorian and Edwardian tenement flats. There are numerous dedicated residential and business forums for the area and also opportunities to connect including the well-established Abbeyhill Colony of Artists.

Culture and community

Educational establishments

Abbeyhill Primary School is located on Abbey Street to the south of London Road. The Category-B listed Abbeymount Techbase building sits at the top of

Easter Road Easter Road is a association football, football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian F.C., Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity ...

, and was initially built as a primary school in 1874 is now used as artists studios.

Transport

Abbeyhill station was opened in 1869 and closed in 1964 as a result of the

Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...

. Abbeyhill is conveniently linked to the city centre by Regent Road and Calton Road, allowing quick access to the city centre and

Edinburgh Waverley railway station Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

. Many

Lothian Buses Lothian Buses is a major bus operator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the largest municipal bus company in the United Kingdom: the City of Edinburgh Council (through Transport for Edinburgh) owns 91%, Midlothian Council 5%, East Lothi ...

routes serve the area and provide easy access to the city and to East Lothian.

References

External links

Bartholomew's ''Chronological map of Edinburgh'' (1919)
*https://www.bellfieldbrewery.com/ *https://www.thenational.scot/news/18048488.scotlands-insider-guide-abbeyhill/ *https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/meadowbanksportscentre *https://www.colonyofartists.co.uk/ *https://www.abbey-lane.com/ *https://ootbabbeymountstudios.org.uk/ *https://meadowbankshoppingcentre.com/ *https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/edinburghs-abandoned-restaurant-erratic-opening-20659246 * Holyrood Palace *

Scottish Parliament Building ; sco, Scots Pairlament Biggin , native_name_lang = , former_names = , alternate_names = Holyrood , image = Scottish Parliament building - geograph.org.uk - 2469654.jpg , image_alt = , caption ...

* Old Royal High School *https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/best-in-edinburgh/edinburgh-woman-opens-cafe-after-23053782 {{Coord, 55, 57, 25.81, N, 3, 10, 10.30, W, display=title Areas of Edinburgh