Human settlement in Scotland
Liberton
is a suburb of
Edinburgh
the capital of
Scotland
. It is in the south of the city, south of
The Inch
, east of the
Braid Hills
and west of
Moredun
.
Liberton
Community council
's area includes Liberton,
Gracemount
,
Kaimes
,
Alnwickhill
and
Mortonhall
.
[1]
Historically the parish covered a wide area and included
Burdiehouse
,
Gilmerton
,
Niddrie
and
Straiton
.
[2]
Incorporated into the city in 1920,
[3]
the area was once home to
Arthur Conan Doyle
, who lived in a small cottage near the
Braid Burn
, which is now inside the grounds of the
Cameron Toll
Shopping Centre car park and is now a small school.
Increased development in the area from the mid 1970s to current times
[
when?
]
has seen Liberton develop into a popular choice for homeowners with areas such as Double Hedges, Alnwickhill and Howdenhall often representing better value for money than locations closer to the city centre.
In recent years
[
when?
]
once thriving community pubs and hotels have closed with the likes of the Liberton Inn, Northfield House Hotel and The Marmion, formerly The Captains Cabin, all having been converted to or planning permission being sought for retail premises or flats.
[
needs update
]
Derivation
[
edit
]
The name, of
Old English
origin and formerly written
Libertun
,
[4]
has generally been believed to signify '
Leper
Town', the area being supposed at one time to have contained a small colony of lepers exiled from the city. However modern authorities have suggested it may more probably have meant ‘barley farm on a hillside’, from the Old English words
hlith
, hillside and
bere-t?n
, barley farm.
[5]
[6]
This rural parish was split into Over Liberton and Nether Liberton, the latter centring on a water mill standing on the Braid Burn.
History
[
edit
]
The suburb is home to a prehistoric standing stone just over 6-foot in height.
[7]
A chapel of Liberton was granted to the monks of
Holyrood Abbey
in 1143 by MacBeth, Baron of Liberton. The latter is mentioned in the Charters of King David I from 1124. In 1240 a document records the transfer of the church from St Cuthberts in Edinburgh back to Holyrood Abbey and this control continued until the Reformation.
[8]
In 1387 Nether Liberton was under control of Adam Forrester (whose family later owned
Corstorphine
) and is recorded (with Provost Andrew Yichtson) as benefactor of the repairs and rebuilding of
St Giles Cathedral
that year.
[9]
At the time of the Reformation a church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, already existed at Liberton, under control of
Holyrood Abbey
.
[10]
The current Liberton Church, designed by
James Gillespie Graham
, was built in 1815 after the old church was burned beyond repair.
[11]
The graveyard contains a "table stone" to the south-west of the church bearing one of the earliest known sculpted depictions of ploughing.
[12]
A modern cemetery lies to the north-west of the older kirkyard. The war memorial at the western entrance (1920) is by
Pilkington Jackson
.
Liberton Tower
is a well-preserved and restored late medieval (15th century) tower house standing to the south of the Braid Hills.
[13]
Liberton House nearby is a late 16th-century A-listed fortified house, also restored. The house is open to the public free of charge by appointment only.
[14]
[15]
Liberton became part of Edinburgh on 1 November 1920.
[16]
Present-day Liberton
[
edit
]
Although the area is mostly residential, it has a riding school and stables, which take advantage of the nearby
Braid Hills
to offer pony trekking. Also in the area is
Liberton High School
,
Gracemount High School
and several primary schools (Liberton, St John Vianny, Gracemount and St Katherine's). Sporting activities are represented by Liberton Bowling Club
(Website)
based opposite the Kirk, a Golf club off Gilmerton Road and a Rugby Union club at Double Hedges Park.
Southfield Sanatorium
once occupied Southfield House;
Ellen's Glen House
community hospital (2000) was built in the grounds to meet twenty-first century
NHS Lothian
needs.
Liberton Hospital
opened in 1906 and currently specialises in geriatric medicine.
Liberton Cemetery and Kirkyard
[
edit
]
Local family names include Speedy, Flockhart, Inch, Tod, Plenderleith, Borrowman and Torrance.
Monuments and interments
[
edit
]
- Tom Aiken
(1872?1943) Scottish billiards champion
- William Inglis Clark
FRSE
(1855?1932), chemist and mountaineer (stone vandalised)
- W. Barbrooke Grubb
(1865-1930), missionary and author
- Arthur Robertson Cushny
FRS
(1866?1926), physiologist
- Henry John Dobson
(1858?1928), artist from St John's Town of Dalry, Kirkcudbrightshire, father of artists
Henry Raeburn Dobson
and
Cowan Dobson
.
- Prof
Robert Flint
(1838?1910), theologian and philosopher
- Charles Edward Green
(1866?1920), author of the
Encyclopaedia of Agriculture
- A monument to the children who died at
Dr Guthrie's School
- Rev
George William Jones
FRSE
(1879?1918), academic, killed as a pilot in the
First World War
- Rt Hon Sir John McNeill
(1795?1883) and Lady Emma Augusta Campbell
- John McVeagh (d.1861), civil engineer
- Rev Joseph Moffett DD (1885?1962), theologian
- Charles Roy Nasmith
FRSE
(1882?1954) US consul
- Robert Payton Reid
ARSA (1857?1945), artist
- Ethel Constance Roussel (d.1917), widow of the artist
Arthur Melville
(in the family plot of
David Croall of Southfield
)
- Lt John Thornton (1780?1870), participant in the
Battle of Nivelle
- Prof Findlater Simpson (1842?1923), theologian
Ministers of Liberton
[
edit
]
Liberton was a relatively important rural charge.
Other notable residents
[
edit
]
- James Goodwillie
FRSE
(1866?1953) mathematician, born and raised in Liberton
[18]
- Archie Scott
(1918?2019), first-class cricketer
Trivia
[
edit
]
Dunedin
,
New Zealand
, a sister city of Edinburgh's, has a suburb called
Liberton
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Peggie, Chris.
"Liberton and District"
.
The City of Edinburgh Council
. Retrieved
27 March
2023
.
- ^
"Liberton from The Gazetteer for Scotland"
.
scottish-places.info
. Retrieved
27 March
2023
.
- ^
ReDrawing Edinburgh: The Edinburgh Boundary Extension Centennial 1920 Project
,
City of Edinburgh Council
- ^
New Statistical Account of Scotland (Family History Library book 941 B4sa, series 2 vol. 1)
- ^
A. D. Mills. "Liberton." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003.
- ^
Ross, D.(2001)
Scottish Place-names
Edinburgh: Birlinn, p. 141
- ^
"Edinburgh, Liberton, Ravenswood Avenue"
.
canmore.org.uk
. Historic Environment Scotland
. Retrieved
17 April
2023
.
- ^
Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh
; vol. 6, ch.38
- ^
Cassell's Old and New Edinburgh
; vol. 6, ch. 38
- ^
Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae
; by Hew Scott
- ^
The Buildings of Scotland
; John Gifford, Colin McWilliam, David Walker, Christopher Wilson
- ^
Stephen Dickson; research whilst surveyor of graveyards and cemeteries for CEC
- ^
"Liberton Tower"
. Liberton Tower. Archived from
the original
on 15 September 2017
. Retrieved
2 April
2014
.
- ^
"Canmore"
. Retrieved
5 December
2016
.
- ^
"Projects"
. Groves-Raines Architects
. Retrieved
2 April
2014
.
- ^
Edinburgh and its Environs:Wardlock Guide
- ^
"Liberton parish, Midlothian"
.
- ^
Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783?2002
(PDF)
. The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006.
ISBN
0-902198-84-X
.
External links
[
edit
]
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