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Niddrie () is a residential suburb in
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, Scotland. It is situated in the south-east of the city, south-west of the seaside area of Portobello, and west of
Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...
in
East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...
near Fort Kinnaird retail park. The western section of Niddrie is also known by the alternative name of Craigmillar.


History

The place name is believed to be of Brythonic origin, *''nowid treb'' meaning "new settlement". It was known historically as Niddry Marischal to distinguish it from several other nearby localities:
Longniddry Longniddry (, )
is a coastal village in East Lothian ...
and Niddry Bents. The Wauchope family owned the majority of the area up to the 1930s. Robert Wauchope,
Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...
and Primate of Ireland, was born in Niddrie Marischal around 1500. In the 1590s Archibald Wauchope of Niddrie was a supporter of the rebel Earl of Bothwell. The family home Niddrie Marischal House was immediately west of the present-day Jack Kane Centre sports complex in Hunters Hall Park. The Wauchopes eventually donated their lands to the city. In 1839 John Henderson designed the lodge and gates to the Mansion. The House was demolished although the vaulted tomb-house, which adjoined the western extension, remains as a listed building. From the mid-19th century the area was developed by the family for coal-mining purposes with several pits being built and a great number of miners cottages were erected.
Social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...
was built in Niddrie Mains by Edinburgh
Corporation A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
from 1927 until the mid-1930s, under the designs of City Architect,
Ebenezer James MacRae Ebenezer James MacRae (18 January 1881 – 15 January 1951) was a Scottish people, Scottish architect serving as City Architect for Edinburgh for most of his active life. Life He was the son of Rev Alexander MacRae of the Free Church of Scotl ...
. The new housing was linked to a major
slum clearance Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low-income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
scheme in the St. Leonard's Ward of Edinburgh. Families from these cleared areas were housed together with local coal mining families from Niddrie. The Niddrie Mains council housing estate is now almost completely demolished, with very few of the buildings surviving. The land has been mostly redesignated for private rather than social housing. The site is currently being developed by PARC, an ALMO or Arms Length Management Organisation, fully owned by the
City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Dhùn Èideann'') is the local government authority covering the City of Edinburgh council area. Almost half of the council area is the built-up area of Edinburgh, capital of Sco ...
. The development includes a new primary school for the surrounding area, with the old Niddrie Mill Primary School and St Francis Primary School being put on a joint campus. The first, though unassociated, phase of redevelopment in the Niddrie Mains area was the Hays area, constructed around 2001 and consisting of two-storey blocks with gardens and pedestrianised streets.


Crime

Between the 1980s and 2000s, Niddrie suffered from a high crime rate. Antisocial behaviour is fairly common, though gang fights and knife crime are of a lesser degree today compared to the levels recorded between the 1980s and 2000s. During the 1980s, Niddrie was one of the most drug-riddled communities in Scotland, and still has problems with class A drug use today. For a number of years, the area has had problems with joyriding and youngsters stealing cars and motorbikes. Greendykes and Niddrie Mains was ranked as the fourth-most deprived area in Scotland in the 2006 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Episodes of public disorder have seen police and fire service personnel subject to attack. During the bonfire night period in 2023, a police vehicle was struck by a Molotov cocktail in the area with gangs on motorcycles racing through the area "while fireworks were lobbed at the ground". Young people in masks were reported to be filming themselves using a "rocket launcher to shoot fireworks at police". In an effort to control the disorder several roads in the area were closed in the Hay Avenue area of the suburb and police became involved in a stand-off with around 100 youths on the Sunday night. On 5 November 2023 the BBC reported that "about 50 young people have clashed with riot police in Edinburgh with fireworks and petrol bombs being thrown directly at officers".


Demographics


Transport

Niddrie once had its own railway station, on the
Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway was an early railway built to convey coal from pits in the vicinity of Dalkeith into the capital. It was a horse-operated line, with a terminus at St Leonards station, Edinburgh, St Leonards on the south side ...
. Today the nearest stations are at and , both located on Edinburgh Crossrail and Borders Railway.
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 Lothia ...
provide 8 buses to the area: 2 Hermiston Gait - Broomhouse - Saughton - Gorgie - Haymarket - Grassmarket - Southside - Prestonfield - Niddrie - Asda *Evening Buses terminate at Broomhouse Roundabout 14 Muirhouse - Granton - Pilton - Ferry Road - Leith - Elm Row - North Bridge - Southside - Prestonfield - Niddrie - Greendykes 21 Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Portobello - Leith - Ferry Road - Silverknowes - Davidsons Mains - Clermiston - Sighthill - Gyle Centre/Clovenstone 30 Queen Margaret University - Fort Kinnaird - Niddrie - Prestonfield - Southside - Princes Street - Longstone - Wester Hailes - Clovenstone 46 Rosewell - Bonnyrigg - Dalkieth - Danderhall - Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird - Stoneybank - Musselburgh 48 Gorebridge - Mayfield - Dalkieth - Danderhall - Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird - Stoneybank - Musselburgh 400 Edinburgh Airport - Gyle Centre - Wetser Hailes - Colinton - Oxgangs - Kaimes - Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird N30 Westside Plaza - Baberton - Clovenstone - Longstone - Princes Street - Niddrie - Queen Margaret University - Stoneybank -
Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...


Community Arts

Immediately adjacent to Craigmillar, and part of Edinburgh City's political ward Craigmillar/Portobello, it was also the home of the Craigmillar Festival Society, a community arts organisation, founded by local mother and "Woman Of Achievement" Helen Crummy.


References


External links


Niddrie
at
Gazetteer for Scotland The ''Gazetteer for Scotland'' is a gazetteer covering the geography, history and people of Scotland. It was conceived in 1995 by Bruce Gittings of the University of Edinburgh and David Munro of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and co ...

Photos of Niddrie
{{Areas of Edinburgh Areas of Edinburgh