121-677: Kirkliston is a village and parish to the west of Edinburgh , Scotland, historically within the county of West Lothian but now within the City of Edinburgh council area limits. It lies on high ground immediately north of a northward loop of the Almond , on the old road between Edinburgh and Linlithgow (the B9080, now cut off by Edinburgh Airport ), having a crossroads with the road from Newbridge to Queensferry and beyond to Fife (the B800). The B800
242-557: A Coffey still . Both factories have been demolished, although the original patent still house remains and has been converted to housing. The oldest surviving building in Kirkliston is the kirk for which the town is named. Its elevated position raises it to a position of great prominence in the local topography. The mound it sits upon is partly natural and partly a burial mound upon which the church has been superimposed. The church's " Norman Transitional " architecture indicates that it
363-563: A marriage stone dated 1682. Robert Burns stayed there in the summer of 1787 and inscribed this verse on a window pane, now in a Vancouver museum: The ants about their clod employ their care, And think the business of the world is theirs; Lo: Waxen combs seem palaces to bees. And mites conceive the world to be a cheese. The eastern section of the Main Street was added as a toll road to Linlithgow around 1800 and buildings developed along it from that time. The construction of
484-479: A port several miles away (respectively, Leith and Piraeus ). Intellectually, the Scottish Enlightenment , with its humanist and rationalist outlook, was influenced by Ancient Greek philosophy . In 1822, artist Hugh William Williams organized an exhibition that showed his paintings of Athens alongside views of Edinburgh, and the idea of a direct parallel between both cities quickly caught
605-465: A royal charter , c. 1124–1127 , by King David I granting a toft in burgo meo de Edenesburg to the Priory of Dunfermline . The shire of Edinburgh seems to have also been created in the reign of David I, possibly covering all of Lothian at first, but by 1305 the eastern and western parts of Lothian had become Haddingtonshire and Linlithgowshire , leaving Edinburgh as the county town of
726-410: A M9 Spur extension in 2003 led to the excavation of a 19th-century terraced cottages by CFA Archaeology. The results shed light the cramped and unsanitary conditions that large families lived in at that time and that the houses were cheaply built, poorly maintained and overcrowded throughout much of their existence. The memorial on the northeast corner of
847-538: A centre of education, particularly in the fields of medicine, Scottish law , literature, philosophy, the sciences and engineering. The University of Edinburgh , founded in 1582 and now one of three in the city, is considered one of the best research institutions in the world. The financial centre of Scotland, Edinburgh is the second-largest financial centre in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest in Europe, and
968-613: A commanding role in the local landscape. It closed as a church in 1945, and is now used by the parish church as a church hall. Kirkliston was designated a conservation area on 13 October 1977. The conservation area all lies south of the main crossroads and Main Street. Although Main Street is not included in the conservation area, the Conservation Area Character Appraisal recognises that boundary changes to include parts of Main Street would help to preserve
1089-612: A copy of the 1643 Solemn League and Covenant , signed by the minister, the session clerk (John Brooke), and 310 parishioners. It is displayed on the east wall of the nave. Kirkliston Parish Church is a congregation of the Church of Scotland (within the Presbytery of Edinburgh). Kirkliston parish also includes the neighbouring community of Newbridge. The Reverend Erick du Toit became its minister in December 2020. The oldest stone in
1210-588: A growing population and the development of numerous villages, such as Pumpherston and Broxburn . The bings (black and pink hills of shale waste) produced by the mining industry, 19 of which still stand in West Lothian, were at first considered blights, but now are thought of as monuments to Scotland's industrial past, and a representation of one appears on the council's coat of arms. The bings are also seen as important for local and national biodiversity . The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established
1331-523: A population in 2014 of 1,339,380. Like most of Scotland, Edinburgh has a cool temperate maritime climate ( Cfb ) which, despite its northerly latitude, is milder than places which lie at similar latitudes such as Moscow and Labrador . The city's proximity to the sea mitigates any large variations in temperature or extremes of climate. Winter daytime temperatures rarely fall below freezing while summer temperatures are moderate, rarely exceeding 22 °C (72 °F). The highest temperature recorded in
SECTION 10
#17327825108031452-789: A population of 912,490 in the same year. Recognised as the capital of Scotland since at least the 15th century, Edinburgh is the seat of the Scottish Government , the Scottish Parliament , the highest courts in Scotland , and the Palace of Holyroodhouse , the official residence of the monarch in Scotland. It is also the annual venue of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland . The city has long been
1573-634: A series of small summits to the south of the city centre that command expansive views looking northwards over the urban area to the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is drained by the river named the Water of Leith , which rises at the Colzium Springs in the Pentland Hills and runs for 18 miles (29 km) through the south and west of the city, emptying into the Firth of Forth at Leith. The nearest
1694-585: A shire covering the central part of Lothian, which was called Edinburghshire or Midlothian (the latter name being an informal, but commonly used, alternative until the county's name was legally changed in 1947). Edinburgh was largely under English control from 1291 to 1314 and from 1333 to 1341, during the Wars of Scottish Independence . When the English invaded Scotland in 1298 , Edward I of England chose not to enter Edinburgh but passed by it with his army. In
1815-601: A site northeast of the church on the site of the former manse and garden, rather than lying on the outskirts. Two of the graves are of the Earl of Stair and his grandmother, Dame Margaret on whom Lady Ashton was based in one of Sir Walter Scott's Waverly Novels "The Bride of the Lammermuirs." The Kirkliston Free Church was opened on 30 September 1843, with its founding stone laid by Thomas Chalmers . Its tall stone spire (added by Hippolyte Blanc in 1880) means it also has
1936-468: A small office in the local library, as well as running the library, primary school, and leisure centre. From 1959 to 2001, Kirkliston was the site of the Drambuie liqueur factory. There had also been a whisky distillery in the south of the town since 1795, which in later years this became a malt factory. The distillery contained a tower-style patent still house, one of only two in Scotland, which housed
2057-529: A uniform system of county councils in Scotland and realigned the boundaries of many of Scotland's counties. Subsequently, West Lothian County Council was created in 1890. The historic county of West Lothian or of Linlithgowshire contained six burghs: Armadale , Bathgate, Bo'ness, Linlithgow, Queensferry, and Whitburn. Areas outside the burghs were administered as districts, of which there were also six: Borrowstounness, Linlithgow, Queensferry, Torphichen & Bathgate, Uphall, and Whitburn & Livingston. The county
2178-655: A war band from across the Brittonic world who gathered in Eidyn before a fateful raid; this may describe a historical event around AD 600. In 638, the Gododdin stronghold was besieged by forces loyal to King Oswald of Northumbria , and around this time control of Lothian passed to the Angles . Their influence continued for the next three centuries until around 950, when, during the reign of Indulf , son of Constantine II ,
2299-485: Is a historic county in the east central Lowlands of Scotland . until 1925. It is bounded geographically by the Avon to the west and the Almond to the east. It was reshaped significantly following local government reforms in 1975, becoming slightly larger but with major territorial changes: some areas in the north-west were transferred to Falkirk ; areas in the north-east were transferred to Edinburgh ; and some areas in
2420-802: Is a genus of reptile -like tetrapod that lived about 338 million years ago during the latest part of the Visean age of the Carboniferous . Members of the genus bore a superficial resemblance to modern-day lizards . The type specimen was discovered in the East Kirkton Limestone at the East Kirkton Quarry in 1984. West Lothian was extensively settled in prehistoric times, and several ancient burial sites have been uncovered, such as at Cairnpapple Hill , described as one of Scotland's richest archaeological sites and one of
2541-521: Is a known example). The Romans withdrew roughly two centuries later, and the area was left to the Britons until the arrival of Anglo-Saxons in the fifth and sixth centuries, who brought Lothian under the rule of the Kingdom of Northumbria . In later centuries the region was regularly overrun by Gaelic-speaking Scots, and it became permanently part of the Kingdom of Scotland in the 11th century. Scotland
SECTION 20
#17327825108032662-439: Is affectionately nicknamed Auld Reekie , Scots for Old Smoky , for the views from the country of the smoke-covered Old Town. A note in a collection of the works of the poet, Allan Ramsay , explains, "Auld Reeky...A name the country people give Edinburgh, from the cloud of smoke or reek that is always impending over it." In Walter Scott 's 1820 novel The Abbot , a character observes that "yonder stands Auld Reekie—you may see
2783-520: Is almost entirely within the City of Edinburgh Council boundary, merging with Musselburgh in East Lothian. Towns within easy reach of the city boundary include Inverkeithing , Haddington , Tranent , Prestonpans , Dalkeith , Bonnyrigg , Loanhead , Penicuik , Broxburn , Livingston and Dunfermline . Edinburgh lies at the heart of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City region with
2904-513: Is also often called "Kirky". Although a major motorway interchange ( M9 J1A / M90 south termination) is situated immediately to the west of Kirkliston and named after the town, there is no direct access onto the network at that location – the nearest is the M9 J1 at Newbridge approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) to the south via the B800. Until 1930, Kirkliston had its own railway station, built by
3025-478: Is an organic-rich, fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be extracted . This extraction was carried out extensively in the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, by a process developed by the chemist James Young . The area rises from lowlands in the north to the Pentland Hills in the southeast, while
3146-502: Is cloudier and somewhat wetter, but differences are minor. Temperature and rainfall records have been kept at the Royal Observatory since 1764. The most recent official population estimates (2020) are 506,520 for the locality (includes Currie ), 530,990 for the Edinburgh settlement (includes Musselburgh ). West Lothian (historic) West Lothian , also known as Linlithgowshire (its official name until 1925),
3267-426: Is encircled by a green belt , designated in 1957, which stretches from Dalmeny in the west to Prestongrange in the east. With an average width of 3.2 km (2 mi) the principal objectives of the green belt were to contain the outward expansion of the city and to prevent the agglomeration of urban areas. Expansion affecting the green belt is strictly controlled but developments such as Edinburgh Airport and
3388-482: Is governed by the City of Edinburgh Council , a unitary authority. The City of Edinburgh council area had an estimated population of 514,990 in mid-2021, and includes outlying towns and villages which are not part of Edinburgh proper. The city is in the Lothian region and was historically part of the shire of Midlothian (also called Edinburghshire). "Edin", the root of the city's name, derives from Eidyn ,
3509-536: Is said to have been founded by St. Ninian in about 400AD, a small wooden structure on the site of the present church (itself rebuilt in 1756) and in 1165, the Knights Hospitaller of St John made their Scottish headquarters at Torphichen and the Preceptory stands as testament to their presence. In pre-industrial times West Lothian was almost entirely agricultural. In the way of heavy industry there
3630-525: Is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas . The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth estuary and to the south by the Pentland Hills . Edinburgh had a population of 506,520 in mid-2020, making it the second-most populous city in Scotland and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom . The wider metropolitan area had
3751-440: Is typical of the old quarters of many Northern European cities. The New Town was an 18th-century solution to the problem of an increasingly crowded city which had been confined to the ridge sloping down from the castle. In 1766 a competition to design a "New Town" was won by James Craig , a 27-year-old architect. The plan was a rigid, ordered grid, which fitted in well with Enlightenment ideas of rationality. The principal street
Kirkliston - Misplaced Pages Continue
3872-476: Is underlaid by Carboniferous sedimentary rocks running in strips from north to south, with a variety of glacial deposits. The exception is the Bathgate Hills, which are composed of volcanic rocks to the north of Bathgate and around Linlithgow. Other rock types include oil shale , sandstone , dolerite . The eastern and southern rocks are the oldest, specifically Devonian sandstones and volcanic rocks in
3993-516: Is variously named Path Brae, High Street, Station Road, and Queensferry Road as it passes through the town. The B9080 is named Main Street and Stirling Road as it passes through. The ancient name of the town was Liston , may be derived from the Brythonic llys meaning court or manor, and the Old English tun meaning town or farmstead. Brythons would have been the earliest inhabitants of
4114-641: The Athens of the North since the early 19th century. References to Athens, such as Athens of Britain and Modern Athens , had been made as early as the 1760s. The similarities were seen to be topographical but also intellectual. Edinburgh's Castle Rock reminded returning grand tourists of the Athenian Acropolis , as did aspects of the neoclassical architecture and layout of New Town . Both cities had flatter, fertile agricultural land sloping down to
4235-467: The Beeching cuts , and the railway track was subsequently removed. There are still references to the station in the name of two streets. The old railway line has been converted into a cycle path. Kirkliston is served by 4 bus services operated by Lothian Buses , Stagecoach East Scotland & McGill's Scotland East : In June 2014, Lothian Buses introduced the 63 bus which runs from Heriot Watt via
4356-661: The George Square and Potterrow areas proved highly controversial. Since the 1990s a new "financial district", including the Edinburgh International Conference Centre , has grown mainly on demolished railway property to the west of the castle, stretching into Fountainbridge , a run-down 19th-century industrial suburb which has undergone radical change since the 1980s with the demise of industrial and brewery premises. This ongoing development has enabled Edinburgh to maintain its place as
4477-734: The Maltese Cross in the arms of the community council, which were granted in 1991. Kirkliston was the location of the first recorded parliament in Scottish history; the Estates of Scotland met there in 1235, during the reign of Alexander the Second . In June 1298 Edward Longshanks made camp at the town on his way to fight Sir William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk . Tradition states that he planted his standard at Greig's Hill, now within
4598-671: The New Towns Act of 1946 , Livingston was designated as a New Town on 16 April 1962. Heavy industry in the county declined after the Second World War, and the last shale oil mine closed in 1962. In 1975, as a result of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 , the boundaries of West Lothian were adjusted, so that some western areas of Midlothian were added, while some West Lothian settlements became part of Falkirk District and Edinburgh. The 1973 Act abolished
4719-620: The North British Railway . The station was located on a branch line from "Queensferry Junction" (near Ratho on the Edinburgh-Glasgow main line) to Dalmeny , which was opened in 1866. The line was extended from Dalmeny to Queensferry and Port Edgar a few years later. Kirkliston Station was closed to passengers by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1930. Freight trains through Kirkliston ended in 1966 following
4840-406: The Pentland Hills . In the middle of the county there is a large field of shale oil running south to north (underneath the settlements of Broxburn, Livingston and West Calder), then sedimentary and basalt rocks, which supply silica sand . In the far west of the county, a large carboniferous coalfield exists; it extends underneath Whitburn, Blackridge and Harthill. The oil shale in West Lothian
4961-803: The Romans arrived in Lothian at the end of the 1st century AD, they found a Brittonic Celtic tribe whose name they recorded as the Votadini . The Votadini transitioned into the Gododdin kingdom in the Early Middle Ages , with Eidyn serving as one of the kingdom's districts. During this period, the Castle Rock site, thought to have been the stronghold of Din Eidyn, emerged as the kingdom's major centre. The medieval poem Y Gododdin describes
Kirkliston - Misplaced Pages Continue
5082-668: The Royal Highland Showground at Ingliston lie within the zone. Similarly, suburbs such as Juniper Green and Balerno are situated on green belt land. One feature of the Edinburgh green belt is the inclusion of parcels of land within the city which are designated green belt, even though they do not connect with the peripheral ring. Examples of these independent wedges of green belt include Holyrood Park and Corstorphine Hill. Edinburgh includes former towns and villages that retain much of their original character as settlements in existence before they were absorbed into
5203-689: The Scotland Act , which came into force the following year, established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive (renamed the Scottish Government since September 2007 ). Both based in Edinburgh, they are responsible for governing Scotland while reserved matters such as defence, foreign affairs and some elements of income tax remain the responsibility of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. In 2022, Edinburgh
5324-739: The South Bridge in the 1780s. The Southside is particularly popular with families (many state and private schools are here), young professionals and students (the central University of Edinburgh campus is based around George Square just north of Marchmont and the Meadows ), and Napier University (with major campuses around Merchiston and Morningside). The area is also well provided with hotel and "bed and breakfast" accommodation for visiting festival-goers. These districts often feature in works of fiction. For example, Church Hill in Morningside,
5445-503: The "burh" (fortress), named in the 10th-century Pictish Chronicle as oppidum Eden , was abandoned to the Scots. It thenceforth remained, for the most part, under their jurisdiction. The royal burgh was founded by King David I in the early 12th century on land belonging to the Crown, though the date of its charter is unknown. The first documentary evidence of the medieval burgh is
5566-504: The "gala queen". At one time the church belonged to the Knights Templar and the town was called Temple Liston. The south doorway is the most significant part of the building, being an excellent example of a Romanesque style arched entrance, typical of the late 12th century, with multiple concentric geometric and sculpted forms in each curve. It was bricked up in the 1822 remodelling carried out by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson , and
5687-499: The 1860s began the transformation of the area into the predominantly Victorian Old Town seen today. More improvements followed in the early 20th century as a result of the work of Patrick Geddes , but relative economic stagnation during the two world wars and beyond saw the Old Town deteriorate further before major slum clearance in the 1960s and 1970s began to reverse the process. University building developments which transformed
5808-409: The 18th-century novel The Expedition of Humphry Clinker by Tobias Smollett one character describes Edinburgh as a "hotbed of genius". Edinburgh was also a major centre for the Scottish book trade. The highly successful London bookseller Andrew Millar was apprenticed there to James McEuen. From the 1770s onwards, the professional and business classes gradually deserted the Old Town in favour of
5929-520: The 19th century and joined by new industries such as rubber works , engineering works and others. By 1821, Edinburgh had been overtaken by Glasgow as Scotland's largest city. The city centre between Princes Street and George Street became a major commercial and shopping district, a development partly stimulated by the arrival of railways in the 1840s. The Old Town became an increasingly dilapidated, overcrowded slum with high mortality rates. Improvements carried out under Lord Provost William Chambers in
6050-411: The Castle Rock, giving rise to allusions to the seven hills of Rome . Occupying a narrow gap between the Firth of Forth to the north and the Pentland Hills and their outrunners to the south, the city sprawls over a landscape which is the product of early volcanic activity and later periods of intensive glaciation. Igneous activity between 350 and 400 million years ago, coupled with faulting , led to
6171-723: The English in 1544, Edinburgh continued to develop and grow, and was at the centre of events in the 16th-century Scottish Reformation and 17th-century Wars of the Covenant . In 1582, Edinburgh's town council was given a royal charter by King James VI permitting the establishment of a university; founded as Tounis College (Town's College), the institution developed into the University of Edinburgh , which contributed to Edinburgh's central intellectual role in subsequent centuries. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded to
SECTION 50
#17327825108036292-620: The English throne, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England in a personal union known as the Union of the Crowns , though Scotland remained, in all other respects, a separate kingdom. In 1638, King Charles I's attempt to introduce Anglican church forms in Scotland encountered stiff Presbyterian opposition culminating in the conflicts of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms . Subsequent Scottish support for Charles Stuart 's restoration to
6413-617: The Gateside housing estate. Archaeological digs in the area have uncovered evidence of the camp, most recently in 2005. A violent quarrel broke out in the camp between Edward's English and Welsh forces, and eighteen ecclesiastics were killed. Clerics' Hill is named in commemoration of them. When the Welshmen announced their intention to defect to the Scots, Edward replied "let my enemies go and join my enemies; I trust that in one day I shall chastise them all." The barony of Kirkliston, including
6534-607: The Gyle, Newbridge, Kirkliston, and onwards to Queensferry. In September 2020, the route was transferred to First , extending the route to Balerno . In 2022 this route was transferred to McGill's along with service X38. In November 2019 Lothian Buses introduced the X38 service running from Linlithgow to town. The Lothian X38 was withdrawn in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and later permanently withdrawn leaving Kirkliston out of
6655-446: The Jacobite "Highland Army" before its march into England. After its eventual defeat at Culloden , there followed a period of reprisals and pacification, largely directed at the rebellious clans . In Edinburgh, the Town Council, keen to emulate London by initiating city improvements and expansion to the north of the castle, reaffirmed its belief in the Union and loyalty to the Hanoverian monarch George III by its choice of names for
6776-587: The Lothian network. In October 2023 Lothian Country introduced Service 72 operating between Kirkliston and Livingston Centre Via Winchburgh, Broxburn, Uphall & St John's Hospital. Stagecoach East Scotland 's Service X51 calls at Kirkliston operating between Dunfermline Bus Station and Livingston Centre via Rosyth , Ferrytoll Park & Ride and the Livingston Fastlink. Edinburgh Edinburgh ( / ˈ ɛ d ɪ n b ər ə / ED -in-bər-ə , Scots: [ˈɛdɪnbʌrə] ; Scottish Gaelic : Dùn Èideann [t̪un ˈeːtʲən̪ˠ] )
6897-424: The North". Robert Louis Stevenson, also a son of the city, wrote that Edinburgh "is what Paris ought to be". The earliest known human habitation in the Edinburgh area was at Cramond , where evidence was found of a Mesolithic camp site dated to c. 8500 BC. Traces of later Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements have been found on Castle Rock, Arthur's Seat , Craiglockhart Hill and the Pentland Hills . When
7018-522: The Palace of Holyroodhouse, the churches of St. Giles , Greyfriars and the Canongate , and the extensive Georgian New Town built in the 18th/19th centuries. Edinburgh's Old Town and New Town together are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site , which has been managed by Edinburgh World Heritage since 1999. The city's historical and cultural attractions have made it the UK's second-most visited tourist destination, attracting 4.9 million visits, including 2.4 million from overseas in 2018. Edinburgh
7139-438: The Provost for the time as Sheriff, and by the Bailies for the time as Sheriffsdepute conjunctly and severally; with full power to hold Courts, to punish transgressors not only by banishment but by death, to appoint officers of Court, and to do everything else appertaining to the office of Sheriff; as also to apply to their own proper use the fines and escheats arising out of the exercise of the said office." Despite being burnt by
7260-438: The United Kingdom's second largest financial and administrative centre after London. Financial services now account for a third of all commercial office space in the city. The development of Edinburgh Park , a new business and technology park covering 38 acres (15 ha), 4 mi (6 km) west of the city centre, has also contributed to the District Council's strategy for the city's major economic regeneration. In 1998,
7381-430: The adjectival forms Edinburgensis and Edinensis are used in educational and scientific contexts. Edina is a late 18th-century poetical form used by the Scots poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns . "Embra" or "Embro" are colloquialisms from the same time, as in Robert Garioch 's Embro to the Ploy . Ben Jonson described it as "Britaine's other eye", and Sir Walter Scott referred to it as "yon Empress of
SECTION 60
#17327825108037502-405: The architectural style of the New Town into the early 19th century. Bute House , the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland , is on the north side of Charlotte Square. The hollow between the Old and New Towns was formerly the Nor Loch , which was created for the town's defence but came to be used by the inhabitants for dumping their sewage . It was drained by the 1820s as part of
7623-416: The area, with Angles later arriving from Northumberland . In the 13th century the name was recorded as Temple Liston , referring to the Knights Templar , who possessed the Barony of Liston at the heart of the parish. The prefix Kirk (church) first appears in the 14th century, after the Knights Templar had been disbanded and their lands given to the Knights Hospitaller . The Hospitallers are commemorated by
7744-483: The area. With the redevelopment, Edinburgh has gained the business of cruise liner companies which now provide cruises to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. The coastal suburb of Portobello is characterised by Georgian villas, Victorian tenements, a beach and promenade and cafés, bars, restaurants and independent shops. There are rowing and sailing clubs, a restored Victorian swimming pool, and Victorian Turkish baths . The urban area of Edinburgh
7865-399: The barony. The court hall, situated at the head of The Square, became the village school before being demolished in the 1930s. In July 1543, there was controversy about a plan for Mary, Queen of Scots to marry Prince Edward of England. The two sides met for negotiations at Kirkliston and held a peace making ceremony in the fields. The oldest house in the town is Castle House, which has
7986-486: The beginning of three centuries of Germanic influence in south east Scotland that laid the foundations for the development of Scots , before the town was ultimately subsumed in 954 by the kingdom known to the English as Scotland. As the language shifted from Cumbric to Northumbrian Old English and then Scots , the Brittonic din in Din Eidyn was replaced by burh , producing Edinburgh . In Scottish Gaelic din becomes dùn , producing modern Dùn Èideann . The city
8107-665: The cannel coal resources dwindled around 1866, Young and his chemical works started distilling paraffin from much more readily available shale . Shale oil extraction reached its height in the county during the Victorian era . By 1871, there were over 50 oil works producing more than 25 million gallons each year. The five largest oil shale companies (Young's Paraffin Light & Mineral Oil Company, Broxburn Oil Company, Pumpherston Shale Oil Company, Oakbank Oil Company and James Ross & Company Philpstoun Oil Works) were concentrated in West Lothian and would later merge to become Scottish Oils Ltd . The increased industrialisation led to
8228-423: The city between October and April. Located slightly north of the city centre, the weather station at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) has been an official weather station for the Met Office since 1956. The Met Office operates its own weather station at Gogarbank on the city's western outskirts, near Edinburgh Airport . This slightly inland station has a slightly wider temperature span between seasons,
8349-423: The city was 31.6 °C (88.9 °F) on 25 July 2019 at Gogarbank, beating the previous record of 31 °C (88 °F) on 4 August 1975 at Edinburgh Airport. The lowest temperature recorded in recent years was −14.6 °C (5.7 °F) during December 2010 at Gogarbank. Given Edinburgh's position between the coast and hills, it is renowned as "the windy city", with the prevailing wind direction coming from
8470-473: The city's northward expansion. Craig's original plan included an ornamental canal on the site of the loch, but this idea was abandoned. Soil excavated while laying the foundations of buildings in the New Town was dumped on the site of the loch to create the slope connecting the Old and New Towns known as The Mound . In the middle of the 19th century the National Gallery of Scotland and Royal Scottish Academy Building were built on The Mound, and tunnels for
8591-415: The creation of tough basalt volcanic plugs , which predominate over much of the area. One such example is the Castle Rock which forced the advancing ice sheet to divide, sheltering the softer rock and forming a 1 mi-long (1.6 km) tail of material to the east, thus creating a distinctive crag and tail formation. Glacial erosion on the north side of the crag gouged a deep valley later filled by
8712-567: The crest of a ridge from it terminating at Holyrood Palace. Minor streets (called closes or wynds ) lie on either side of the main spine forming a herringbone pattern. Due to space restrictions imposed by the narrowness of this landform, the Old Town became home to some of the earliest "high rise" residential buildings. Multi-storey dwellings known as lands were the norm from the 16th century onwards with ten and eleven storeys being typical and one even reaching fourteen or fifteen storeys. Numerous vaults below street level were inhabited to accommodate
8833-528: The crossroads was built in 1920 to the memory of the men who died in the war. Until May 1975 Kirkliston was within the old county of West Lothian . Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 it then became part of the Lothian Region and the City of Edinburgh District. Further local government reorganisation in 1996 saw the town become part of the City of Edinburgh Council area. Edinburgh Council has
8954-467: The development of which as a new town in the second half of the 20th century represents one of the major differences between the historic and modern entities. Towns which were once in West Lothian but no longer are include Bo'ness , Kirkliston and South Queensferry , whilst localities which were only added in the 1970s include Addiewell , East Calder , Kirknewton , Loganlea , Mid Calder and West Calder . Westlothiana ("animal from West Lothian")
9075-515: The earlier places of organised worship in the country. There are remains of hillforts on Cockleroy, Peace Knowe, Bowden, Cairnpapple, and Binns Hills. The area was anciently inhabited by Britons of the tribe known as the Votadini or Gododdin . By 83 AD, southern Scotland had been conquered by Romans, who built a road from their fort at Cramond to the eastern end of the Antonine Wall , as well as forts in West Lothian (of which Castle Greg
9196-434: The expanding city of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many areas, such as Dalry , contain residences that are multi-occupancy buildings known as tenements , although the more southern and western parts of the city have traditionally been less built-up with a greater number of detached and semi-detached villas. The historic centre of Edinburgh is divided in two by the broad green swathe of Princes Street Gardens . To
9317-477: The fact that the social classes shared the same urban space, even inhabiting the same tenement buildings; although here a form of social segregation did prevail, whereby shopkeepers and tradesmen tended to occupy the cheaper-to-rent cellars and garrets, while the more well-to-do professional classes occupied the more expensive middle storeys. During the Jacobite rising of 1745 , Edinburgh was briefly occupied by
9438-452: The former first minister of Scotland), and Sir Tom Dalyell (the Member of Parliament for Linlithgow from 1962 to 2005). Figures from industry and academia include John Fleming (from Bathgate, a naturalist, zoologist and geologist), Sir Charles Wyville Thomson (from Linlithgow, a natural historian and marine zoologist), and James Young Simpson (an obstetrician and significant figure in
9559-468: The government changed the name formally to "Westlothian" under the Westlothian (Bathgate District) Water Order Confirmation Act 1925, which received royal assent on 27 March 1925. In May 1927 the county council resolved that West Lothian should be written as two words rather than one. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 6 . c. 43) subsequently gave statutory confirmation for
9680-412: The graveyard is dated 1545. A curious gravestone features two carved heads wearing spectacles; its date of 1727 possible makes it the world's oldest depiction of glasses with sides. The original graveyard lies largely to the south of the church, but was extended as a more formal cemetery on sloping ground to the west. Unusually for towns, the much later Kirkliston Cemetery (begun in 1928) has squeezed into
9801-584: The hamlets of Howden , Craigshill , and Pumpherston ). The western border was formed first by the Drumtassie Burn and then by the Avon. It had an area of 120 sq. miles (310 km ), making it the third-smallest of Scotland's 33 counties and smaller than the modern council area. The geology of West Lothian is typical for the Midland valley area geological of Scotland. Most of the bedrock surface area
9922-518: The history of medicine). The traditional county bordered Midlothian to the south-east, Lanarkshire to the south-west and Stirlingshire to the west. Its border with Midlothian was formed by the Breich Water , from its source until it reached the Almond, and it then followed the Almond to the Firth of Forth (except by Livingston, where Midlothian intruded about a mile past the Almond to include
10043-620: The influx of incomers, particularly Irish immigrants , during the Industrial Revolution . The street has several fine public buildings such as St Giles' Cathedral, the City Chambers and the Law Courts . Other places of historical interest nearby are Greyfriars Kirkyard and Mary King's Close . The Grassmarket , running deep below the castle is connected by the steep double terraced Victoria Street. The street layout
10164-631: The landscape. In Bathgate , the Scottish Chemist James Young's discovery of cannel coal in the Boghead area of Bathgate, and his subsequent opening of the Bathgate Chemical Works in 1852 transformed the town and the adjacent landscape. The works were the world's first commercial oil-works, manufacturing paraffin oil and paraffin wax , signalling an end to the rural community of previous centuries. When
10285-535: The middle of the 14th century, the French chronicler Jean Froissart described it as the capital of Scotland (c. 1365), and James III (1451–88) referred to it in the 15th century as "the principal burgh of our kingdom". In 1482 James III "granted and perpetually confirmed to the said Provost, Bailies, Clerk, Council, and Community, and their successors, the office of Sheriff within the Burgh for ever, to be exercised by
10406-623: The modern-day skyscraper. Most of these old structures were replaced by the predominantly Victorian buildings seen in today's Old Town. In 1611 an act of parliament created the High Constables of Edinburgh to keep order in the city, thought to be the oldest statutory police force in the world. Following the Treaty of Union in 1706, the Parliaments of England and Scotland passed Acts of Union in 1706 and 1707 respectively, uniting
10527-538: The more elegant "one-family" residences of the New Town, a migration that changed the city's social character. According to the foremost historian of this development, "Unity of social feeling was one of the most valuable heritages of old Edinburgh, and its disappearance was widely and properly lamented." Despite an enduring myth to the contrary, Edinburgh became an industrial centre with its traditional industries of printing, brewing and distilling continuing to grow in
10648-537: The name for the region in Cumbric , the Brittonic Celtic language formerly spoken there. The name's meaning is unknown. The district of Eidyn was centred on the stronghold of Din Eidyn, the dun or hillfort of Eidyn. This stronghold is believed to have been located at Castle Rock , now the site of Edinburgh Castle . A siege of Din Eidyn by Oswald , king of the Angles of Northumbria in 638 marked
10769-413: The now drained Nor Loch . These features, along with another hollow on the rock's south side, formed an ideal natural strongpoint upon which Edinburgh Castle was built. Similarly, Arthur's Seat is the remains of a volcano dating from the Carboniferous period , which was eroded by a glacier moving west to east during the ice age. Erosive action such as plucking and abrasion exposed the rocky crags to
10890-603: The old north doorway, more restrained in design, was moved to the eastern wall to become the main entrance. The projecting wing on the church's southeast, the Stair Aisle, in which the lairds of Newliston and their families are interred, was added in the early 17th century. A lintel above its door bears the Latin for "it is proper to trust in virtue, not in lineage" with the date 1629 and the initials of John Dundas of Newliston and his wife Margaret Crichton. The church contains
11011-567: The popular imagination. When plans were drawn up in the early 19th century to architecturally develop Calton Hill , the design of the National Monument directly copied Athens' Parthenon . Tom Stoppard 's character Archie of Jumpers said, perhaps playing on Reykjavík meaning "smoky bay", that the "Reykjavík of the South" would be more appropriate. The city has also been known by several Latin names , such as Edinburgum , while
11132-522: The railway line between Haymarket and Waverley stations were driven through it. The Southside is a residential part of the city, which includes the districts of St Leonards , Marchmont , Morningside , Newington , Sciennes , the Grange and Blackford . The Southside is broadly analogous to the area covered formerly by the Burgh Muir , and was developed as a residential area after the opening of
11253-413: The river gets to the city centre is at Dean Village on the north-western edge of the New Town, where a deep gorge is spanned by Thomas Telford 's Dean Bridge , built in 1832 for the road to Queensferry . The Water of Leith Walkway is a mixed-use trail that follows the course of the river for 19.6 km (12.2 mi) from Balerno to Leith. Excepting the shoreline of the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh
11374-403: The second half of the century, the city was at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment , when thinkers like David Hume, Adam Smith, James Hutton and Joseph Black were familiar figures in its streets. Edinburgh became a major intellectual centre, earning it the nickname "Athens of the North" because of its many neo-classical buildings and reputation for learning, recalling ancient Athens. In
11495-431: The smoke hover over her at twenty miles' distance". In 1898, Thomas Carlyle comments on the phenomenon: "Smoke cloud hangs over old Edinburgh, for, ever since Aeneas Silvius 's time and earlier, the people have the art, very strange to Aeneas, of burning a certain sort of black stones, and Edinburgh with its chimneys is called 'Auld Reekie' by the country people". The 19th-century historian Robert Chambers asserted that
11616-427: The sobriquet could not be traced before the reign of Charles II in the late 17th century. He attributed the name to a Fife laird, Durham of Largo, who regulated the bedtime of his children by the smoke rising above Edinburgh from the fires of the tenements. "It's time now bairns, to tak' the beuks, and gang to our beds, for yonder's Auld Reekie, I see, putting on her nicht -cap!". Edinburgh has been popularly called
11737-461: The south that had formerly been part of Midlothian were added to a new West Lothian District within the Region of Lothian . This then became a standalone local authority area in the most recent major reorganisation enacted in 1996, retaining those same boundaries and name. The county town was the royal burgh of Linlithgow , but the current council area has its headquarters at Livingston ,
11858-548: The south, the view is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, built high on Castle Rock, and the long sweep of the Old Town descending towards Holyrood Palace. To the north lie Princes Street and the New Town. The West End includes the financial district, with insurance and banking offices as well as the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. Edinburgh's Old and New Towns were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 in recognition of
11979-546: The south-west, which is often associated with warm, unstable air from the North Atlantic Current that can give rise to rainfall – although considerably less than cities to the west, such as Glasgow. Rainfall is distributed fairly evenly throughout the year. Winds from an easterly direction are usually drier but considerably colder, and may be accompanied by haar , a persistent coastal fog. Vigorous Atlantic depressions, known as European windstorms , can affect
12100-553: The southern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city centre is 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 mi (4.0 km) southwest of the shoreline of Leith and 26 mi (42 km) inland, as the crow flies, from the east coast of Scotland and the North Sea at Dunbar . While the early burgh grew up near the prominent Castle Rock, the modern city is often said to be built on seven hills , namely Calton Hill , Corstorphine Hill , Craiglockhart Hill, Braid Hill , Blackford Hill , Arthur's Seat and
12221-667: The southwest is moorland. West Cairn Hill is the highest peak and Current County Top (CoU) at 562 m (1,844 ft). The previous County Top was Cairnpapple Hill which is now the Historical County Top (CoH). Two thirds of the land is agricultural, while a tenth is urban. Significant watercourses include the Almond and the Union Canal , while the main bodies of water are Linlithgow Loch , Dundas Loch , Humbie Reservoir , Lochcote Reservoir , Beecraigs Loch and Bangour Reservoir . The small island of Inchgarvie near
12342-517: The streets of the New Town: for example, Rose Street and Thistle Street; and for the royal family, George Street , Queen Street , Hanover Street, Frederick Street and Princes Street (in honour of George's two sons). The consistently geometric layout of the plan for the extension of Edinburgh was the result of a major competition in urban planning staged by the Town Council in 1766. In
12463-783: The thirteenth largest internationally. The city is a cultural centre, and is the home of institutions including the National Museum of Scotland , the National Library of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery . The city is also known for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe , the latter being the world's largest annual international arts festival. Historic sites in Edinburgh include Edinburgh Castle ,
12584-501: The throne of England resulted in Edinburgh's occupation by Oliver Cromwell 's Commonwealth of England forces – the New Model Army – in 1650. In the 17th century, Edinburgh's boundaries were still defined by the city's defensive town walls . As a result, the city's growing population was accommodated by increasing the height of the houses. Buildings of 11 storeys or more were common, and have been described as forerunners of
12705-534: The town leading to the net area of the conservation area being primarily open space rather than buildings. Locally Kirkliston is often known as "Cheesetown", a name first recorded in print in 1902. A suggested origin is the Burns verse given above, but the most widely used explanation is that when the Forth Bridge was being built, the workers who lodged in Kirkliston often had cheese sandwiches for lunch. The town
12826-594: The townscape. It focuses on the Parish Church, The Square and the High Street but also stretches south down to encompass the remote manse and the little group of buildings at Breastmill (1672). Its boundary splits the now largely demolished distillery site and it is recognised that inclusion of the entire site would help to control redevelopment. The boundary encompasses the River Almond as it passes
12947-465: The traditional counties, burghs and districts, instead creating a system of Regions and Districts . West Lothian was made a district of Lothian Region but lost the burgh of Bo'ness and the district of Bo'ness to Falkirk District of Central Region , and the burgh of Queensferry and the district of Kirkliston plus part of Winchburgh to Edinburgh district of Lothian Region. It gained East Calder and West Calder districts from Midlothian. The two-tier system
13068-484: The two kingdoms in the Kingdom of Great Britain effective from 1 May 1707. As a consequence, the Parliament of Scotland merged with the Parliament of England to form the Parliament of Great Britain , which sat at Westminster in London. The Union was opposed by many Scots, resulting in riots in the city. By the first half of the 18th century, Edinburgh was described as one of Europe's most densely populated, overcrowded and unsanitary towns. Visitors were struck by
13189-543: The two word version of the name. In the Second World War the county adopted during Warship Week the destroyer HMS Wallace raising over £547,000 in donations. Many of the houses built for the expanding population during the 19th and 20th century were of poor quality, necessitating the building of thousands of council houses in the latter part of the 20th century, especially at Livingston, where several smaller settlements were historically mining villages. Under
13310-473: The unique character of the Old Town with its medieval street layout and the planned Georgian New Town, including the adjoining Dean Village and Calton Hill areas. There are over 4,500 listed buildings within the city, a higher proportion relative to area than any other city in the United Kingdom. The castle is perched on top of a rocky crag (the remnant of an extinct volcano) and the Royal Mile runs down
13431-516: The village, church, mill, glebe, and demesne, was acquired by the Archbishop of St Andrews in the 15th century. Kirkliston became the site of the court from which the archbishop's lands south of the Forth were administrated, a fact commemorated by the mitre and crozier in the council arms. The Setons of Niddry , whose symbol, a red crescent on gold, is also represented, were hereditary bailies of
13552-551: The west before leaving a tail of deposited glacial material swept to the east. This process formed the distinctive Salisbury Crags , a series of teschenite cliffs between Arthur's Seat and the location of the early burgh. The residential areas of Marchmont and Bruntsfield are built along a series of drumlin ridges south of the city centre, which were deposited as the glacier receded. Other prominent landforms such as Calton Hill and Corstorphine Hill are also products of glacial erosion. The Braid Hills and Blackford Hill are
13673-463: Was a matter of great resentment when the two burghs merged in 1920 into the City of Edinburgh. Even today the parliamentary seat is known as "Edinburgh North and Leith". The loss of traditional industries and commerce (the last shipyard closed in 1983) resulted in economic decline. The Edinburgh Waterfront development has transformed old dockland areas from Leith to Granton into residential areas with shopping and leisure facilities and helped rejuvenate
13794-408: Was a silver mine at Hilderston near Cairnpapple, a cotton mill at Blackburn , paper mills at Linlithgow, and shallow coal mines around Bathgate and Whitburn . The county was radically changed by the Industrial Revolution , (from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840) with the opening of deep-pit iron, coal, and shale oil mines, as well as foundries and brickworks, which dramatically altered
13915-569: Was abolished by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 , and the district of West Lothian was made into a unitary council area named West Lothian Council . Notable residents of West Lothian include monarchs and political figures including Mary Queen of Scots (born at Linlithgow Palace), King James the Fifth (born at Linlithgow Palace), Robin Cook (the Member of Parliament for Livingston from 1983 to 2005), Alex Salmond (from Linlithgow,
14036-469: Was affected by the 2022 Scotland bin strikes . In 2023, Edinburgh became the first capital city in Europe to sign the global Plant Based Treaty , which was introduced at COP26 in 2021 in Glasgow. Green Party councillor Steve Burgess introduced the treaty. The Scottish Countryside Alliance and other farming groups called the treaty "anti-farming". Situated in Scotland's Central Belt , Edinburgh lies on
14157-480: Was also split into twelve parishes; these were not used for administrative purposes after 1930. West Lothian County Council was based at the County Buildings in the High Street, Linlithgow. Prior to 1925, the county was formally called the "county of Linlithgow" or Linlithgowshire, although the name West Lothian had long been used as an informal alternative name. Following a petition by the county council
14278-406: Was built around 1200. It was dedicated on 11 September 1244 by David de Bernham , Bishop of St Andrews, but the patron saint is not recorded. It may be one of the saints commemorated in the names of two ancient local fairs, St Symon & St Jude's and St Margaret's . These were discontinued in the 19th century, but there is now an annual "gala day", a festival in which a local girl is crowned as
14399-480: Was split into sheriffdoms, what would later become counties, in the reign of David I . The first known reference to a sheriff of Linlithgow occurs in a charter dating from the reign of his successor Malcolm IV . For a time West Lothian became a constabulary, but it seems to have been made a sheriffdom again during the reign of James III . During the medieval period , settlements such as Linlithgow, Abercorn, Dalmeny and Torphichen grew in importance. Torphichen church
14520-572: Was the home of Muriel Spark 's Miss Jean Brodie, and Ian Rankin 's Inspector Rebus lives in Marchmont and works in St Leonards. Leith was historically the port of Edinburgh, an arrangement of unknown date that was confirmed by the royal charter Robert the Bruce granted to the city in 1329. The port developed a separate identity from Edinburgh, which to some extent it still retains, and it
14641-576: Was to be George Street , running along the natural ridge to the north of what became known as the "Old Town". To either side of it are two other main streets: Princes Street and Queen Street. Princes Street has become Edinburgh's main shopping street and now has few of its Georgian buildings in their original state. The three main streets are connected by a series of streets running perpendicular to them. The east and west ends of George Street are terminated by St Andrew Square and Charlotte Square respectively. The latter, designed by Robert Adam , influenced
#802197