Visit Sciennes Places

Welcome to Visit Sciennes Places
The Walkfo guide to things to do & explore in Sciennes

  

Sciennes Places Overview: History, Culture & Facts about Sciennes

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Sciennes history

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The recorded history of Sciennes starts in the early 16th century, with the establishment of two religious houses. In 1512, Sir John Crawfurd, canon of St Giles, erected a chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist on land that had been part of the ancient Burgh Muir. Four years later, the Dominican Convent of St Catherine of Scienna was founded by a group of women, led by Lady Janet Seton, whose husbands and relatives had been killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The convent, which was completed in 1518, was the only Dominican Nunnery in Scotland.

Origins of street names

The Convent of St Catherine of Scienna gives its name to Sciennes itself and to several of its streets. Other streets in the district are named after notable figures of the day. Livingstone Place, for the explorer, David Livingstone; Gladstone Terrace, for William Ewart Gladstone, the Liberal Prime Minister.

You can visit Sciennes places with Walkfo Sciennes to hear history at Sciennes’s places whilst walking around using the free digital tour app. Walkfo Sciennes has 470 places to visit in our interactive Sciennes 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 Sciennes, 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 Sciennes places, with a AI tour guide to help you get the best from a visit to Sciennes & the surrounding areas.

“Curated content for millions of locations across the UK, with 470 audio facts unique to Sciennes places in an interactive Sciennes map you can explore.”

Walkfo: Visit Sciennes Places Map
470 tourist, history, culture & geography spots

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

  

Best Sciennes places to visit

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

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.

Edinburgh Geographical Institute Edinburgh Geographical Institute was founded as a map publisher by famed Scottish geographer and cartographer John George Bartholomew in 1888. The Institute was established in 1888 as a publisher of maps and maps.

Visit Sciennes plaques