Visit Newington, Edinburgh Places

Welcome to Visit Newington, Edinburgh Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Newington, Edinburgh

  

Newington, Edinburgh Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Newington, Edinburgh

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Newington, Edinburgh history

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Early years

Until the 16th century, the area now occupied by Newington lay within the ancient forest of Drumselch. The area was otherwise unnamed save for Lowsie Law, which was likely located near modern South Oxford Street. A minor skirmish of the Marian civil war was fought here in 1571. In 1586, the town council feued six lots on an uncultivated area of the Burgh Muir bounded by what are today East and West Preston street.

18th and early 19th centuries

From the mid-18th century, developments such as George Square and Nicolson Street had brought wealthy Edinburgh citizens out of the Old Town and into the Southside. Further development south, however, was stalled by the opening of the North Bridge in 1772, which aided the northward development of the city into the New Town. In 1805, the entire Newington estate was bought by the surgeon Benjamin Bell, who was assisted in his business dealings by fellow surgeon Alexander Wood.

Victorian era

Development in Newington slowed between 1830 and 1850 but soon after resumed at pace. In this period, properties in the southern part of Blacket Place and the villas of Mayfield Terrace were developed. By 1865, a report by Henry Littlejohn found Newington to be the most densely populated of Edinburgh’s southern suburbs. In the expanding suburb, burials were accommodated by the establishment of Newington Cemetery, which opened for internments in 1846. After Warriston Cemetery, Newington, which was laid out by David Cousin from 1848, was the second of Edinburgh’s privately managed suburban cemeteries. Causewayside, in particular, had, from 1850, become overcrowded and unruly. Barriers were erected in Duncan Street and Salisbury Place to prevent the district’s inhabitants from accessing the wealthier residences of Minto Street. Newington Parish Church supported a missionary in this area from 1866 and permanent mission buildings were established on Causewayside in 1886. In these, the Newington Social Union was established in 1892. Improved transport links to the city aided Newington’s rapid development in this period. Buses reached the area in the 1850s and tramcars in 1871. Newington Railway Station on the Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway opened in 1884. The disruption of 1843 saw the establishment of a Free Church congregation on Newington Road. A United Presbyterian congregation from Potterrow moved to a new church on the corner of Hope Park Terrace and Causewayside in 1867 while the Congregationalists established a church nearby at Hope Park Terrace in 1876. The Free Church went on to establish a congregation at Mayfield in 1875 while a Free congregation from Chambers Street moved to new buildings on Suffolk Road in 1898 under the name Craigmillar Park Free. The Church of Scotland established a mission under the name of Mayfield on Craigmillar Park in 1879. St Peter’s, an Epsicopal church, was built on Lutton Place between 1857 and 1865 while St Columba’s Roman Catholic Church was established on Upper Gray Street in 1889. Nearby, on Duncan Street, a Baptist church had opened in 1841. In 1847, the church was purchased by the United Presbyterians, who moved out in 1863 to the newly-opened Grange Road United Presbyterian Church on the corner of Causewayside and Grange Road in Sciennes. After this, the Duncan Street church was again occupied by a Baptist congregation. After Sir George Stewart’s death in 1822, Newington House had passed through a number of owners until its occupation in 1852 by Liberal politician, Duncan McLaren. At the western edge of Newington, McLaren acquired the lands of Mayfield and Rosebank along with the village of Powburn. From 1862, the area around Waverley Park was feued to a plan by David Cousin. In 1864, Cousin radically revised this scheme to create a plan of curving streets centring on a communally-owned green space at Waverley Park. This may have been inspired by a similar scheme at London’s Ladbroke Grove. Cousin also proposed that, like the Blacket development to its north, entry to this scheme would be guarded by gates and lodges. Lodges remain at the Dalkeith Road entrance to Queen’s Crescent and on Peel Terrace. After McLaren acquired the Mayfield estate in 1863, he again commissioned Cousin to produce a feu plan; however, only two terraces on the east side of Mayfield Gardens were laid out to Cousin’s plan. Nevertheless, the area had been developed almost entirely by the time of McLaren’s death in 1886. McLaren’s personality and politics are reflected in the names of the streets he developed: Cobden Road, Peel Terrace, and Bright’s Crescent are named for fellow reformist politicians; Queen’s Terrace for his loyalty to Queen Victoria; Waverely Park for his love of literature; and Mentone and Ventnor terraces for his favourite holiday resorts. Encouraged by the success of McLaren’s Mayfield scheme, Sir Robert Gordon-Gilmour feued the area to its south as East and West Craigmillar Park, beginning in 1876. Development was, however, slower and the remaining unfeued land was turned into a nine-hole golf course in 1895. After one of its fairways was developed for housing in 1904, the club moved to Blackford and the remaining area became sport fields. In the same year, Craigmillar Park Bowling Club opened on vacant space in West Craigmillar Park. The creation of these sporting facilities supplemented the Waverely Lawn Tennis and Squash Club, which had been founded in 1885. The 19th century saw the establishment in Newington of several health and educational institutions. Completed in 1877 on the site of the old settlement at the Powburn, the West Craigmillar Asylum for Blind Females superseded the blind asylum on Nicolson Street. In 1875, Longmore Hospital on Salisbury Place opened as the Edinburgh Hospital for Incurables. Founded by a bequest of John Alexander Longmore, the hospital occupied the former site of several houses and a boys’ school known as Wilson’s Academy. Other schools of this period in Newington included Munro’s Academy and Robertson’s Academy, which occupied a Gothic building on the site of what is now South Oxford Street. St Margaret’s School was founded in Craigmillar Park in 1890 as Queen Margaret’s College for Young Ladies. Also in 1890, Madame Muriset’s Craigmillar Park College was established on Crawfurd Road as a girls’ boarding school. It closed at Muriset’s retirement in 1932, by which time it was also accepting boys. By 1896, the need for a new public school in Newington and the Southside was recognised by the foundation of Preston Street School on the corner of East Preston Street and Dalkeith Road. It opened in 1897 and remains in use as a primary school. St Columba’s Roman Catholic Church had opened an attached school the previous year on Strathearn Road in Marchmont. In 1897, this moved to Newington Road, moving again to the former Causewayside School building in 1924. It closed in 1941.

20th and 21st centuries

From 1907, Newington House was occupied by the cartographer John George Bartholomew. Another printing works was established at Bernard terrace by Pillans & Wilson in 1919. In 1913, undeveloped land at East Craigmillar Park was purchased by the Edinburgh Association for the Provision of Hostels for Women Students. During the Second World War, they served as a prisoner-of-war camp for German naval officers.

Newington, Edinburgh toponymy

Newington is likely a variant of “Newton”, meaning “new farm” in Scots. The Slowmans acquired five of the six lots feued at Newington between 1602 and 1628.

Newington, Edinburgh geography / climate

Newington lies on a gentle, south-facing slope and is intersected from north to south by the A701. The A701 and Dalkeith Roads represent major routes into Edinburgh city centre. The only public park is a small area around the Braid Burn at the southern tip of Newington. The high ground of northern Newington affords views of Arthur’s Seat to the east and of Liberton to the south.

Townscape

The northern portion of Newington is characterised by large, uninterrupted blocks. Buildings north of Salisbury Place/Salisbury Road range between two and a half and five storeys with an average height of four storeys. The rigorous imposition of Georgian and Victorian feuing plans means the density of buildings has remained low.

You can visit Newington, Edinburgh places with Walkfo Newington, Edinburgh to hear history at Newington, Edinburgh’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Newington, Edinburgh has 460 places to visit in our interactive Newington, Edinburgh map, with amazing history, culture & travel facts you can explore the same way you would at a museum or art gallery with information audio headset. With Walkfo, you can travel by foot, bike or bus throughout Newington, Edinburgh, being in the moment, without digital distraction or limits to a specific walking route. Our historic audio walks, National Trust interactive audio experiences, digital tour guides for English Heritage locations are available at Newington, Edinburgh places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Newington, Edinburgh & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 460 audio facts unique to Newington, Edinburgh places in an interactive Newington, Edinburgh map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Newington, Edinburgh Places Map
460 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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Newington, Edinburgh historic spots	Newington, Edinburgh tourist destinations	Newington, Edinburgh plaques	Newington, Edinburgh geographic features
Walkfo Newington, Edinburgh tourism map key: places to see & visit like National Trust sites, Blue Plaques, English Heritage locations & top tourist destinations in Newington, Edinburgh

  

Best Newington, Edinburgh places to visit

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Newington, Edinburgh has places to explore by foot, bike or bus. Below are a selection of the varied Newington, Edinburgh’s destinations you can visit with additional content available at the Walkfo Newington, Edinburgh’s information audio spots:

Holy Corner Holy Corner is a colloquial name for a small area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is part of Burghmuirhead, itself part of the lands of Greenhill. Holy Corner lies between Bruntsfield and Morningside.

Moredun Moredun is a district in the south-east of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is east of Liberton, while Craigour is situated just to its north. The estate of Gut-tres or Goodtrees was the family home of James Stewart. It was acquired in 1923 to convert into a convalescent home for ex-servicemen.

Golfers Land The Golfers Land is a site on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, Scotland dating to around 1681. The site gets its name from the town house of John Paterson, said to have been the teammate of the Duke of Albany in what is often regarded as the first international golf contest.

The Canongate The Canongate is the main eastern section of Edinburgh’s Old Town. It began when David I of Scotland authorised Holyrood Abbey to found a burgh separate from Edinburgh between the Abbey and Edinburgh. The burgh gained its name from the route the canons took to Edinburgh. In 1636 the adjacent city of Edinburgh bought the feudal superiority of the canongate.

Dean Village Dean Village (from dene, meaning ‘deep valley’) is a former village immediately northwest of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was known as the “Water of Leith Village” and was a successful grain milling area for more than 800 years.

Moray Estate The Moray Estate in Edinburgh was an exclusive early 19th century building venture. Built on an awkward and steeply sloping site, it is a masterpiece of urban planning. It has accommodated the rich and famous from its outset.

Stockbridge, Edinburgh Stockbridge is a suburb of Edinburgh, located north of the city centre. Originally a small outlying village, it was incorporated into the City of Edinburgh in the 19th century. The name is Scots stock brig from Anglic stocc brycg, meaning a timber bridge. The current “Stock Bridge” is a stone structure spanning the Water of Leith.

Merchiston Merchiston is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The area is known as Merchiston, or Merchiston in the north-east of Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian, it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh is Scotland’s second-most populous city and the seventh-most in the United Kingdom. It is the seat of the Scottish Government, the Scottish Parliament and the highest courts in Scotland. The city’s Palace of Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the monarch.

St James Quarter St James Quarter is a retail, lifestyle and residential district in Edinburgh. It is situated in the east end of the New Town. The district is a redevelopment on the site of the St James Centre which closed in October 2016.

Visit Newington, Edinburgh plaques