Craigmillar

For the locality in Canada, seeCraigmillar, Alberta.

Craigmillar(from GaelicCreag a' Mhaol Àird,"rock of the bare summit" )is an area ofEdinburgh,Scotland,about 3 miles (4.8 km) south east of the city centre, withDuddingstonto the north andNewcraighallto the east.

Craigmillar
Craigmillar Castle
Craigmillar Location within theCity of Edinburgh council area Craigmillar Location withinScotland
OS grid reference	NT288713
Civil parish	Liberton
Council area	City of Edinburgh
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	EDINBURGH
Postcode district	EH16
Dialling code	0131
Police	Scotland
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
UK Parliament	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh
Scottish Parliament	Edinburgh Eastern

History

Peffermill Court, one of two 14-storey tower blocks in Craigmillar Castle Gardens

Despite the relative modernity of most of the housing in the area, the settlement of Craigmillar itself is very old, and containsCraigmillar Castle.The castle was originally the Barony of Preston, or Prestoun. It was then renamed Gourtoun and then finally Craigmillar. Craigmillar begun in the late 14th or early 15th century, and occupied until the early 18th century. In 1660, the Craigmillar estate was bought by SirJohn Gilmour.

The housing scheme atNiddrie Mainswas created through the Housing (Scotland) Act of 1924, with lands bought from the Wauchope Estate. The ancient heart of the estate, Niddrie Marischal House, survived for a few years before being demolished, but an C18th mausoleum formally attached to the house survives off Niddrie Marischal Terrace. The Niddrie Mains area was designed and laid out by the then City Architect,Ebenezer James MacRaefrom 1927. The separate Craigmilllar estate, immediately below the castle, was planned in 1936, largely by the architect Thomas Smith.By 2000 the area consisted mainly of high-density inter-war and post-warpublic housingschemes, ranging from 1920s tenements to high-rise tower blocks. After 2000 theCity of Edinburgh Councildecided to demolish, rather than refurbish, around 2000 homes in Niddrie Mains, with only a handful of dwellings and two interwar listed schools being retained. At the same time much of the interwar Craigmillar estate was either demolished or refurbished. Between 1945 and 1950 the Thistle Foundation, a housing complex for disabled ex-servicemen was built, being designed in a traditional style by architects Lorimer & Matthew. Its centrepiece is the A-listed Robin Chapel built between 1949-52 in a Scottish Arts and Crafts style by the architect John F Matthew to commemorate Robin Tudsbury.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw seven breweries being built in what was open country at Craigmillar/Duddingston, concentrated in a small area beside the railway line and taking advantage of the local aquifers providing excellent water for brewing. The first of these was the Craigmillar Brewery of William Murray & Co. Ltd built in 1886 and followed within a few years byAndrew Drybrough's brewery,also called the Craigmillar Brewery (1892), the Duddingston Brewery built byPattisons Ltd(1896), bought by Robert Deuchar Ltd in 1899 following Pattisons' liquidation, the North British Brewery (1897) which was taken over by Murray's in 1927 becoming known as Murray's No. 2 Brewery, Maclauchlan's Castle Brewery, Raeburn's New Craigmillar Brewery and Paterson's Pentland Brewery, all opening in 1901. These breweries stopped brewing at various times, mainly in the 1960s, but Drybrough's survived for several years and ceased brewing in January 1987.

Historical maps

In 2009 TheNational Library of Scotlandreleased maps for the Craigmillar Area

• Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 Sheet IV SW, 1909Shows detail of Niddrie House, Waterfall, Icehouse, Niddrie Stone 1909.
• Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 Sheet IV SW, 1938Shows the development of Niddrie Main 1938.
• Ordnance Survey 1:10,560 – Air Photos – Sheet NT 27 SE 1946andNT 37 SW, 1946Shows the aerial photos from 1946
• Other georeferenced historical mapsof Craigmillar from the mid 18th to the mid 20th centuries

Present day maps

OpenStreetMapvolunteers completedOpenStreetMap Craigmillarin January 2009.

Facilities

Craigmillar saw riots in the 1980s, amid complaints about the lack of facilities in the area. Both the library and Arts Centre were won bygrassroots-based community action trying to tackle the area's social problems. One such venture was theCraigmillar Festival Society,which was active from 1962 until 2002.

The area also had a large concrete sculpture/play-structure, created by artistJimmy BoylecalledGulliver, The Gentle Giant that cares and shares.It was built for the Craigmillar Festival Society in 1976, and largely demolished in 2011 when the Niddrie Burn was re-routed through Hunter's Hall Park, the remaining portion being listed in 2023.TheUniversity of Edinburghhas playing fields in this area, including one of the oldest modern-styleshintyfields in Scotland.

Gulliverwas considered ageoglyph.

Regeneration of Craigmillar

The area has benefited from many initiatives aimed at tackling the social deprivation that has characterised the area for many years, and a new 'town centre' is being brought back to the main street, Niddrie Mains Road, with a new library, secondary school and shops. The area occupied by the Council housing in Niddrie Mains is gradually being rebuilt with new housing. An ambitious plan to re-develop parts of Craigmillar is underway. The Scottish Government's "Green Quarter Plan" proposes the creation of several new parks and woodland areas throughout the Craigmillar area. The "Green Quarter Plan" is being undertaken by the Parc life development company. They also propose the development of 3,200 affordable houses to rent and improved learning and leisure facilities for young people.

One of the few retained buildings of significance is "The White House"former public house, anArt Decolisted buildingwhich was restored with gallery space inside in 2011.

Demographics

Ethnicity	Portobello/Craigmillar Ward	Edinburgh
White	85.0%	84.9%
Asian	7.5%	8.6%
Black	3.0%	2.1%
Mixed	2.2%	2.5%
Other	2.2%	1.9%

Transport

The Edinburgh Suburban railway

Craigmillar is served byLothian Busesservice 12 which runs fromPortobellotoThe Gyle Shopping Centre,service 2 from The Jewel,Asda,to Hermiston Gait Retail Park, service 14 fromGreendykestoMuirhouse& Service 30 fromQueen Margaret UniversitytoClovenstone,Wester Hailes.

The area was once served by a local railway fromDuddingston & Craigmillar railway stationon theEdinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway.The station closed in 1962, but local pressure groups are campaigning to have the line re-opened, possibly as an extension of the forthcomingEdinburgh Tram Network.Following a petition submitted to theScottish Parliamentin 2007, the proposal was rejected in 2009 by transport planners due to anticipated cost.

Notable people

• Helen Duncan(1897–1956), the last woman to be imprisoned under theWitchcraft Act 1735,lived in Craigmillar.
• The former Craigmillar Primary School building houses a mural by the painterJohn Maxwell,who was trained byFernand Légerand was a fellow student ofMarc Chagallin Paris.
• There is a fine example of 20th centurystained glassby Sadie Maclellan inRobin Chapel,in the Thistle Foundation, a housing complex for disabled people in the centre of Craigmillar.
• Local motherHelen Crummywas instrumental in the founding of theCraigmillar Festival Societyin 1962.
• The noted Conservative politician SirIan Gilmourwas given a life peerage byJohn Majorin 1992, becoming Baron Gilmour of Craigmillar, of Craigmillar in the District of the City of Edinburgh, of which his family were, for several hundred years, the feudal superiors.

External links

• Craigmillar community site
• Craigmillar Partnership
• CraigmillarOnline
• Robin Chapel