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Edinburgh
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Lying on the banks of the
Firth of Forth, Abercorn is home to one of
Scotland’s most splendid mansions, Hopetoun House,
the seat of the Marquis of Linlithgow.
The main part of the property was built by Sir
William Bruce Kinross in the late 17th century.
Its two wings with domed octagonal tower were
later added by the famous Adams family. Within is
Chippendale furniture and important paintings;
without is parkland and formal gardens overlooking
the Forth. |
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Abercorn Hopetoun House -
Photo:
Brian MacLennan
CCL |
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Aberlady Point - Photo:
David Dickson
CCL |
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This coastal village in East
Lothian lies on the southern shore of the Firth of
Forth and has a fine view over Aberlady Bay where
sands and mudflats attract thousands of wading and
sea birds.
The Myreton Motor Museum has a collection of old
bicycles and motor vehicles dating from 1866.
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Lying to the west of
Edinburgh, Bathgate is overlooked by beautiful
hills and was the birthplace in the early 19th
century of Sir James Simpson who pioneered the use
of ether and chloroform as anaesthetics.
The Bathgate Hills form part of a local country
park.
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Bathgate - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
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Bo' Ness - Photo:
Steve Kent
CCL |
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Once an important seaport and
coal mining centre on the Firth of Forth, the town
of Bo’ness (or Borrowstoness) lies at what was the
eastern end of the Roman Antonine Wall.
Among its attractions is 16th century Kinneil
House, rebuilt as the stately home of the Hamilton
family.
It was in the grounds of the House that James Watt
built his first full-scale Newcomen steam engine
in 1769. His ruined cottage still survives.
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The Bo’ness area was noted for both the
manufacture of salt from seawater.
The Bo’ness and Kinneil steam railway is a major
tourist attraction.
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Bo'ness Railway Museum - Photo:
Ron Hann
CCL |
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Pittendreich House - Photo:
Jeff Wells
CCL |
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These picturesque towns are
only a cockstride from the busy centre of big-city
Edinburgh yet are surrounded by lovely countryside
in a region noted for its heritage and history.
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Take a brisk walk from
Edinburgh city centre and you will reach this
outer-city village noted for its high, sandstone
tenements dating back to the Victorian period.
It boasts a lively shopping scene, a large splash
of green space and its own golf links.
The Golf Tavern was apparently built on the site
of Scotland’s first-ever golf club.
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Bruntsfield - Photo:
Callum Black
CCL |
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Port Seaton - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
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These two villages have slowly
merged to form a single unit even though there are
separate harbours less than a mile apart.
A power station dominates the distance but the
area has retained the charm of a fishing
community; boatyards have survived and fishing the
sea is still an important industry.
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One of Edinburgh’s most
desirable village-style suburbs, Colinton lies in
a steep valley on the banks of the Water of Leith
and is close to beautiful woodland.
Its ancient parish church was founded in the early
part of the 11th century by Ethelred, son of
Malcolm III.
The village features in Robert Louis Stevenson’s
uncompleted novel ‘Weir of Hermiston’ and it was
here as a child that he imagined ghosts wandering
through the churchyard. His grandfather was a
local minister.
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Colinton Church - Photo:
Kevin Rae
CCL |
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Colinton - Photo:
Gordon Reynolds
CCL |
The areas boasts a number of
‘arts and crafts’ cottages as well as Redford
Barracks.
Colinton’s 15th century castle was left in tatters
by Cromwell when he invaded Scotland.
Later, however, it was turned into a picturesque
ruin by the artist Alexander Nasmyth, the ‘father
of Scottish landscape painting’.
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With splendid views across the
Firth of Forth, this area lies west of Edinburgh
city centre and dates back to the Middle Ages.
It is home to the ever-popular Edinburgh Zoo. All
that remains of Corstorphine Castle is a rare
dovecote shaped like a beehive.
It was near this spot that a notorious murder took
place in the 17th century.
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Corstorphine Hill Tower - Photo:
Callum Black
CCL |
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Cramond - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL
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Dating back to Roman times,
this picturesque village of white-washed cottages
lies northwest of Edinburgh’s city centre.
Robert Louis Stevenson described it in his novel
‘St Ives’.
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The River Almond joins the
mighty Firth of Forth here and the district is
full of history.
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River Almond - Photo:
Dennis Turner
CCL |
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Cramond Kirk - Photo:
David Medcalf
CCL |
Walkers can make their way
across a causeway to Cramond Island, tide willing.
The church stands on the site of a Roman fort
built by Antoninus Pius in 142 AD.
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The main town of Midlothian,
Dalkeith is rich in history and boasts a
remarkable palace that began life as a castle in
the 12th century before being converted into a
plush house some 400 years later by James Douglas,
4th Earl of Morton, regent to James V1. It was
later transformed again by Sir John Vanbrugh.
Nearby Nidry Castle played host to Mary Queen of
Scots after she escaped in 1568 from Loch Leven
Castle.
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Dalkeith House - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL
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Dalkeith - Photo:
Kevin Rae
CCL |
Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, who was
executed after opposing James 11, was born in
Dalkeith, which was also home to Scotland’s most
famous witchfinder, John Kincaid.
Nearby Ingliston is the scene
each June of the Royal Highland Show.
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Overlooked by Thomas Telford's
famous Dean Bridge, this outer-city ‘village’ is
something of a curiosity, with winding pathways
and old-world buildings.
Along the Water of Leith is St Bernard's Well and
a mock temple.
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Dean Bridge - Photo:
Brian MacLennan
CCL |
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Dean Village - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
Nearby is the Scottish
National Gallery of Modern Art and the Dean
Gallery.
The latter was opened in 1999 in a converted local
hospital and contains world-class collections of
modern art.
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A fishing port and seaside
resort, Dunbar has been a royal burgh since the
14th century.
Above the harbour sits the ruin of a 9th century
castle where ‘Black Agnes’, Countess of March,
held the English at bay for five months in 1338.
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Dunbar Castle - Photo:
Stanley Howe
CCL |
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John Muir - Photo:
Eileen Henderson
CCL |
Mary Queen of Scots was
brought here by James Bothwell after he kidnapped
her in 1567 prior to their marriage.
The building was eventually ruined when Mary was
defeated by rebellious nobles later that same
year.
The name of the town’s most famous son, the
pioneering conservationists John Muir (1838-1914),
is remembered at the John Muir country park.
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There are several beaches nearby while the
limestone cliffs of Barns Ness hold many
interesting fossils.
The 13th century Battle of Dunbar was fought a few
miles from the town centre and a second battle, in
1650, resulted in the Scots being mercilessly
slaughtered by a roundhead army.
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Dunbar Battery - Photo:
Lisa J
CCL |
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Preston Mill - Photo:
Chris Allen
CCL
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This East Lothian village lies
close to Preston Mill, Scotland’s oldest working
water-powered grain-mill.
Nearby is the Phantassie
Dovecot. Both are operated by the Scottish
National Trust.
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The Scottish engineer John
Rennie (1761-1821) - designer of London’s old
Waterloo Bridge - was born at Phantassie Farm
while the village itself is dominated by the ruins
of Hailes Castle where Mary Queen of Scots and
James Bothwell stayed in 1567 while fleeing from
rebel nobles.
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Phantassie Doocot - Photo:
Lisa J
CCL |
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Hailes Castle - Photo:
Kevin Rae
CCL |
Behind the castle soars the
mountain of Trapain Law.
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The beauty of this small,
cobbled fishing town is in stark contrast to what
happened on a cold October night in 1881 when 129
men – virtually all the local men folk - were
killed during a catastrophic storm.
It was the worst fishing disaster in Scotland’s
long history.
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Eyemouth - Photo:
Kevin Rae
CCL |
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Fast Castle - Photo:
Tony Kinghorn
CCL |
The nearby ruin of Fast Castle
was dubbed ‘Wolf’s Crag’ by the great
Edinburgh-born writer Sir Walter Scott in his 1819
novel ‘The Bride of Lammemoor’. |
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With the beautiful Lammermuir
Hills as a backdrop, Gifford is a pleasant village
boasting the ruin of an 18th century mansion,
Yester House, which has an underground chamber
known as Goblin Ha’ said to have been built by a
local wizard.
Nearby is a modern Cistercian monastery.
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Gifford - Photo:
Callum Black
CCL |
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Gorebridge - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
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This small Midlothian town was
clearly an important river crossing point.
It takes its name from the River Gore and a bridge
that once crossed it.
Each year local people choose a town ‘king’ and
‘queen’ from primary schools to take part in a
special gala day.
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Something of a golfer’s
paradise, this small village and seaside resort
boasts no less than three golf courses with
magnificent views over the Firth of Forth.
The championship course of Muirfield also lies
nearby. Established in 1744, Muirfield is
considered to be the oldest club in the world.
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Luffness Links - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
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St. Mary's Church - Photo:
Kevin Rae
CCL
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A one-time county town,
Haddington was a royal burgh by the 12th century
and its 14th century parish church, St Mary’s, is
known as the ‘Lamp of the Lothians’. At one time
it had a lantern on its tower. |
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In 1584 the Treaty of
Haddington resulted in the eventual marriage of
Mary Queen of Scots to the French dauphin,
bringing to an end the so-called ‘rough wooing’ of
the English who wanted the young queen to wed
10-years-old Edward V1.
The town was the birthplace of both King of the
Scots Alexander 11 (1198-1249) and John Knox
(1514-72), the central figure in the Scottish
Reformation movement. Nearby Kinlock House is an
18th century mansion. |
Haddington - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
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Inverkeithing - Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
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An ancient royal burgh,
Inverkeithing lies on the Firth of Forth just a
few miles from Edinburgh airport.
The town was the birthplace of Samuel Greig
(1735-88) who created a navy for Russia’s
Catherine the Great. In 1651 Cromwell crushed the
forces of Charles 11 near Pitreavie House.
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St. Peter’s Church has one of
Scotland’s finest medieval fonts, believed to have
been a royal gift. Curiously, the last sighting of
Alexander 111 (1241-86) occurred in the town
before he tumbled off a cliff at Kinghorn.
The town’s Tolbooth dates from the late 18th
century while ‘Thomsoun's House’ and ‘Fordell's
Lodging’ are both 17th century structures. At one
time the area was famous for ship-breaking and
among the tragic victims were the Titanic's sister
ships, the ‘Homeric’ and the ‘Olympic’.
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HMS Ocean - Photo:
Simon Johnston
CCL |
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Leith Coastal Defences -
Photo:
Richard Webb
CCL |
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A difficult place to dismiss,
Leith has been a seaport of some importance since
the Middle Ages.
It was twice sacked by the English in the 16th
century and was where Mary Queen of Scots made
landfall when she returned from France in 1561.
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A year earlier the Treaty of
Leith had ended the Scottish wars of religion
without permanently resolving the problem.
Today Leith is a busy tourist-cum-shopping centre.
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HM Yacht Britannia - Photo:
Richard Rimmer
CCL |
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Moules on the Waterfront - Photo:
Lisa J
CCL |
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One of its crowd-pleasers is
The Royal Yacht Britannia – now a museum piece
-which is moored alongside the area's shopping
mall.
Leith also hosts an arts-and-drama festival each
June.
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Both Mary Queen of Scots and
her father, James V, were born here in 15th
century Linlithgow Palace whose ruin stands high
above a local loch.
The building was unfortunately damaged in 1746 by
a fire started by the Duke of Cumberland’s
soldiers.
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Linlithgow Palace - Photo:
Alistair McMillan
CCL |
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Corvus Monedula -
Photo:
Simon Johnston
CCL |
The parish Church of St.
Michael dates to the 13th century but was rebuilt
after the same fire in 1424.
One of Scotland’s finest churches, it has a crown
of thorns atop its tower.
Many of Scotland’s kings and queens worshipped
within its Gothic walls. The oldest bell was rung
in 1513 to mark the defeat of the Scots at
Flodden.
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Linlithgow Story Museum tells
of the town's connection with the Stewart dynasty
and the lives and occupations of its ordinary
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Linlithgow - Photo:
Nick Leverton
CCL |
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