Craiglockhart - History

History

The name appears to be an anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic, Creag Loch Àrd or Art, meaning the "Rock of the High Loch", or "Arthur's Loch", which may refer to the former loch in the area now occupied by the golf course. A further possibility is that the place took its name from the Lockhart family who are credited by Historic Scotland with building Craiglockhart Castle in the fifteenth century.

The oldest "structure" in the area is the remains of a vitrified fort on the top of Wester Craiglockhart Hill, which is of prehistoric origin. This was somewhat mutilated by the addition of gun-emplacements in World War II, guarding against aerial attack. Excavations show the fort was re-occupied during Roman times. Craiglockhart Castle dates from the 15th century but is now ruined. The hill is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to its diverse biological habitat.

In Victorian times the area was dominated by hospital buildings: The City Hospital (1896); Old Craig House (1565) converted to an asylum in 1878; its "modern" partner, Craighouse, purpose-built as part of the Royal Edinburgh Asylum (1889); the City Poorhouse (1867) later converted to Greenlea's Old People's Home; and Craiglockhart Hydropathic Institution, and in the years 1871-1982 this building rose dramatically above and dirctly overlooked the home playing grounds of Edinburgh University RFC. Craighouse and The Hydropathic are now part of the campus of Edinburgh Napier University. During the First World War, the hospital was used to house officers suffering from the symptoms of shell-shock. Invalids here included the poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, who met while patients. After the war this the building served as a convent and then a theological school, before passing to the then Napier College.

The area became part of Edinburgh City in 1920 and consequently the area was developed in the 1930s, largely with bungalows and low density housing on the low-lying ground around the Wester and Easter Craiglockhart Hills.

Approximately at the boundary point between Craiglockhart and Merchiston runs the Edinburgh Suburban railway line. There was once a station just off Colinton Road, and this may return, since the line is mooted for re-opening as part of Edinburgh's future transport strategy.

Craiglockhart today is chiefly residential, with a small proportion of commercial properties, and is in general considered to be a comfortable middle-class area, with a mixture of terraced and detached villas, of a variety of ages.