About Newington

Exploring Newington

Events
Calendar

Links

Where are we?

Newington on the South side of Edinburgh (including Post Codes EH8 & 9) is an area bounded by the Meadows and Potterrow in the North and Liberton in the South, Holyrood Park to the East and Morningside /Marchmont to the West.
The centre picture above is the view north from Blackford Hill, and on either side are snaps taken locally. one of the Wyvern Statue by the Cricket Ground, the other of the Labyrinth in George Square
We are in Southside/Newington Ward part of Edinburgh South Parliamentary Constituency, (see the local government map) The exact boundaries of our Newington are rather vague and variable!

Edinburgh South has two Members of Parliament!

Nigel Griffiths MP represents us in the House of Commons in Westminster. He can be contacted via the Labour Party Office, 31 Minto Street, Edinburgh EH9 2BT. 0131 662 4520 He holds Advice Sessions there Monday and Thursday mornings at 9.15am and every Third Saturday 10am at Liberton High School, Gilmerton Road; and 11am at James Gillespie's High School

Mike Pringle MSP is our Representative in the Scottish Parliament.
He can be contacted at The Scottish Parliament EH99 1SP Tel 0131 3485788 Email mike.pringle.msp@scottish.parliament.uk.

Our Reprentatives for Southside/Newington ward on the City of Edinburgh Council :-

Councillor Steve Burgess
Councillor Gordon Mackenzie gordon.f.mackenzie@edinburgh.gov.uk
Councillor Ian Perry
Councillor Cameron Rose

One of the joys of living here is that from most places you can see glimpses of hills, water or greenery. So we walk through the avenues of the Grange and admire the gardens or traverse the Meadows – a marvellous area for games and fairs and just taking the air! And from Blackford Hill one has a splendid view north to the Forth Estuary, the mountains and the Kingdom of Fife, South to the Pentlands and Lammermuir Hills and East to that ‘crouching lion’ Arthur’s Seat, and further to the Cockenzie power station and to North Berwick as well as having a view of Edinburgh at one’s feet. At such times I remember being taught in Geography class about the flat, rich alluvial plain that surrounds old volcanoes;- and Edinburgh’s are very old. (Well worth visiting Dynamic Earth for a volcanic experience!)

History

Robin Sherman provides an introduction to the history of this area (Robin Sherman, Old Newington, Grange, Liberton & Gilmerton Stenlake Publishing 2000)

The South side was developed in the Nineteenth century. Before that it was an area of country estates belonging to wealthy city merchants with manor houses-the grange (of St Giles); Whitehouse; Prestonfield House; and Peffermill House; with villages and hamlets orchards and farms.

The Scots word ‘ing’ apparently means meadow, and so the derivation of the name Newington is ‘New Town on the meadow’. Nicolson Street, Clerk Street, South Clerk Street and Newington Road were on the first section of the great road south and became commercialised with shops lining both sides, and as he says ‘these four streets still provide one of the main shopping thoroughfares of the city.’ (Sherman P3)

The Grange apparently takes its name from a great manor house dating back to the twelfth century. According to Sherman ‘Henry (King David’s son bequeathed the estate to the monks of Holme Coltrane. It later passed to the Wardlaw family on the instructions of King David 11 after the monks were expelled in 1323 for swearing allegiance to the English cause. In 1631 it was purchased by the wealthiest and most significant Scottish merchant of his time, Sir William Dick. Exactly one hundred years later the estate passed to the Lauder family, through marriage, following which the family name became Lauder-Dick and afterwards , for some reason, Dick-Lauder. Another century passed before the architect W.H.Playfair was employed to completely remodel the mansion and turn it into a Georgian masterpiece. Sadly no trace of it remains, although a reminder of the family’s presence is provided by the many streets in the area named after other Scottish properties belonging to them, or the maiden names of ladies who married into the family Findhorn, Fountainhall, Hatton, Relugas and Tantallon all relate to properties, and Cumin, Dalrymple and Seton are family names.’(P3) In fact the Grange House was demolished in 1936.

Useful reference books are J Stewart Smith The Grange of St Giles and by Malcolm Cant in Edinburgh: Sciennes and the Grange. 'Historic South Edinburgh' by Charles J Smith can be found in Edinburgh Library.

If you can find a copy of Lord Cockburn’s Memorial’s you will read a fascinating account of his early years from about 1782 when his family moved to live in Hope Park on the south side of the Meadows. They leased some land in which was ‘part of the monastery of the nuns of Scienna (from which the neighbouring village, now part of Edinburgh, is called Sciennes or Sheens) stood in a field behind our house, which field my father always had in lease from Sir Andrew Lauder of Grange; and a fragment of the monastery still remains. A large portion, including the great window, of the Chapel of St Roque, then survived. There was a pond close beside it where I learned to skate-‘

Nearly all the land south of the Meadows, though private property was open country. ‘The lands of Grange, Canaan, Blackford, Braid, Mortonhall, and many other enclosed properties, were all, except in immediate connection with the mansion houses, unenclosed; and we roamed at pleasure till we reached the Pentlands-‘

Sherman’s wee book is full of pictures of the locality from old picture post cards- a fascinating record of local history. Another interesting source of recent history comes from personal stories of local residents in the archives of the Grange Association. and the West Blacket Association

Newington Now

Many of the buildings shown in the old black and white pictures are much the same now but clearly much has changed in the last century. The University of Edinburgh to the North brought changes in George Square and the Science campus of the University expands beside the Golf course at the foot of Blackford Hill. To the East by Holyrood Park, the Pollock Halls of Residence for Students have grown up round St Leonard’s House the Scottish Baronial Style mansion built for the Printer Thomas Nelson .The University has also built residential accommodation in Sciennes and Blacket (replacing Newington House) There are new Housing Developments along Relugas Road and apartment blocks and housing estates along West Saville Terrace replacing the business premises which were there until the eighties. There is a new flats on the corner Ratcliff Terrace and West Mayfield and a number of private residential developments for retired residents. These are just a few of the housing developments I am aware of which suggest that the population of this area must have been increasing since the 1980s.

The 2001 Census data show that the population of Edinburgh is 450,000 and there are 20,000 students who are now included in the statistics at their term time address. The Census data for the Newington wards are compared to the average for Edinburgh. While all three wards have similar population (7,500-7,800), Newington appears a little more affluent than Sciennes, while Southside has a very different profile in many ways. Population density for Newington is 29.2, Sciennes 67.2 and Southside 134.6. People living in flats /tenements-Newington 53.1%. Sciennes 72.1% and Southside 95.4% (Edin 60.1%); households without a car, Newington 26.7%, Sciennes 34.1% and Southside 61.1% (Edin39.5%) Compared to the age-structure for Edinburgh, Newington has a somewhat older population (over 45 +), but there are more 16-24 year olds in Sciennes (25.5%) and Southside 42.2% (Edin. 14.4%). These kinds of differences are reflected in other statistics relating to socio-economic classification with Newington having higher percentage of Managers and Professionals than the average and Southside considerably lower. While all three wards have more student residents than the Edinburgh average (12.8%) Southside has most (42.7%) and Newington fewest of the three (17.9%) and Sciennes (28.7%)

Ethnic background is also interesting and reflects the high student population in that though the majority (over 90%) are white and European –and mostly Scottish born, there is a higher proportion of people of Asian background in each Ward than for Edinburgh as a whole. The main groups are Pakistani/ South Asian and Chinese at around 2% each, though Sciennes have slightly fewer at !.3% Pakistani/S.Asian (Edin 1.3%) and Chinese 1.4% (Edin. 0.8%)

Other Statistics of interest are those for religion. In Edinburgh as a whole 36.5% said they had no religion and 54.8% that they were Christian and 3.7% ‘other’. Newington reflects these proportions but Sciennes and Southside have rather more with no religion claimed and fewer calling themselves Christian (41% and 46-48%)

Where do we belong?

All of which suggests that we are quite a rich mix of mainly individuals and small families and groups and although there are Community Associations we seem to have lost the old village community where people knew their neighbours. In the past there were communities in the villages here, in the family and / or around a church but now we live in a different world.

Does the Church still provide a welcoming group, a place of belonging? Do we find our friends at work or in clubs, sports, the pub? Perhaps many of us are able to link with family and friends by phone or by email or or maintain contact by regular visits but we still miss out on that neighbourhood feeling.

Where do we feel we belong or what relationships matter most?

updated January 2007