Liberton, Edinburgh
Liberton | |
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![]() Liberton Kirk | |
![]() ![]() Liberton Location within Edinburgh | |
OS grid reference | NT274696 |
Council area |
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Lieutenancy area |
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Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | EDINBURGH |
Postcode district | EH16 |
Dialling code | 0131 |
Police | Scotland |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
UK Parliament | |
Scottish Parliament | |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/Liberton_War_Memorial%2C_South_Edinburgh.jpg/220px-Liberton_War_Memorial%2C_South_Edinburgh.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/Straiton_tombstone_detail_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1406405.jpg/220px-Straiton_tombstone_detail_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1406405.jpg)
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, north of and west of Moredun.
Incorporated into the city in 1920,[1] 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.
Derivation[]
The name, of Old English origin and formerly written Libertun,[2] 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-tūn, barley farm.[3][4]
History[]
The current Liberton Church, designed by James Gillespie Graham, was built in 1815 after the old church was burned beyond repair.[5] The graveyard contains a "table stone" to the south-west of the church bearing one of the earliest known sculpted depictions of ploughing.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8][9]
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 leisure activities. Also in the area is Liberton High School, and Liberton has a thriving rugby union club.
Liberton became part of Edinburgh on 1 November 1920.[10]
Liberton Cemetery and Kirkyard[]
Local family names include Speedy, Flockhart, Inch, Tod, Plenderleith, Borrowman and Torrance.
Notable Monuments and Interments[]
- (1872-1943) Scottish billiards champion
- William Inglis Clark FRSE (1855-1932), chemist and mountaineer (stone vandalised)
- 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
- (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
Other notable residents[]
- James Goodwillie FRSE (1866-1953) mathematician, born and raised in Liberton[11]
- Rev William Henry Gray DD (1825-1908) minister of Liberton 1880 to 1898[12] who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1888
- Archie Scott (1918-2019), first-class cricketer
Trivia[]
Dunedin, New Zealand, a sister city of Edinburgh's, has a suburb called Liberton.
See also[]
References[]
- ^ 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 Birlinn, Edinburgh p.141
- ^ 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
- ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
- ^ http://www.ancestor.abel.co.uk/Liberton.html[bare URL]
External links[]
- Areas of Edinburgh
- Parishes formerly in Midlothian