Liberton, Edinburgh

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 Gracemount and west of Moredun.

Liberton

Liberton Kirk
Liberton
Location within Edinburgh
OS grid referenceNT274696
Council area
Lieutenancy area
  • Edinburgh
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townEDINBURGH
Postcode districtEH16
Dialling code0131
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Liberton War Memorial, South Edinburgh
Ploughing scene on the Straiton tombstone

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,[1] 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.[2][3]

History

The current Liberton Church, designed by James Gillespie Graham, was built in 1815 after the old church was burned beyond repair.[4] The graveyard contains a "table stone" to the south-west of the church bearing one of the earliest known sculpted depictions of ploughing.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7][8]

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 Cemetery and Kirkyard

Local family names include Speedy, Flockhart, Inch, Tod, Plenderleith, Borrowman and Torrance.

Notable Monuments and Interments

Other notable residents

Trivia

Dunedin, New Zealand, a sister city of Edinburgh's, has a suburb called Liberton.

References
  1. New Statistical Account of Scotland (Family History Library book 941 B4sa, series 2 vol. 1)
  2. A. D. MILLS. "Liberton." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003.
  3. Ross, D.(2001)Scottish Place-names Birlinn, Edinburgh p.141
  4. The Buildings of Scotland; John Gifford, Colin McWilliam, David Walker, Christopher Wilson
  5. Stephen Dickson; research whilst surveyor of graveyards and cemeteries for CEC
  6. "Liberton Tower". Liberton Tower. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  7. "Canmore". Retrieved 5 December 2016.
  8. "Projects". Groves-Raines Architects. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  9. 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.
  10. http://www.ancestor.abel.co.uk/Liberton.html
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