Ardmillan ( gd, Aird a' Mhaolain, IPA: �aːɾʲtʲˈaˈvɯːɫ̪ɪn is a mainly residential suburb of

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. The area developed during the mid to late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edward ...

as Edinburgh expanded and many of the present tenement flats and houses date from this era. The area is bisected by the

A70 road The A70 road is a major road in Scotland, United Kingdom . It runs a total of from Edinburgh to Ayr. It begins as Dalry Road at the Haymarket, Edinburgh junction with the A8, passing near but not through Lanark and ending as Miller Road in A ...

and its north-west edge is marked by the Shotts railway line. The area has several pubs, small shops, churches and a cemetery.

Location

The boundary north of Ardmillan is bordered by the area of Dalry. To the west is the area of Gorgie, and to the east is the area of Fountainbridge. Shandon, Polwarth and North Merchiston are to the south of Ardmillan.

Name

The name is from the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh a ...

judge, James Craufurd, Lord Ardmillan, who took his name from Ardmillan Castle near

Girvan Girvan ( gd, Inbhir Gharbhain, "mouth of the River Girvan") is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies south of Ayr, ...

. The name means the "high bare place" in

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

(''Aird a' Mhaolain'').

History and architecture

The area contains many tenements as well as "Diggers" pub, so called because the gravediggers from the large graveyard in the Ardmillan-Dalry area would go in there after work. Another pub in the area, the Caledonian Sample Room, is often mistakenly assumed to be owned by the nearby

Caledonian Brewery Caledonian Brewery was a Scottish brewery founded in 1869 in the Shandon area of Edinburgh, Scotland. History Early years When it was founded in 1869, the brewery was named the Lorimer and Clark Caledonian Brewery, after its founders George L ...

(actually it is owned by

Punch Taverns Punch Pubs & Co is a pub and bar operator in the United Kingdom, with around 1,300 leased pubs. It is headquartered in the traditional brewing centre of Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange as a const ...

). Ardmillan has two churches. The first is St Michael's Parish Church, which is an

ecumenical Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The wo ...

church. Building of the church began in 1879 and was completed for services in 1883. There is also an old congregation of Wesleyan Methodists in the area. Ardmillan is also home to a large, modern health centre called Ardmillan House. The health centre is the location of the South East Scotland Breast Screening Centre. Ulmus minor

On the southern boundary with North Merchiston is a large

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to res ...

- Harrison Park. The origins of the park lie with a public purchase of land by Edinburgh City Council in 1886, with additional land expanding the park being bought in 1930.

North Merchiston Cemetery

North Merchiston Cemetery is a garden cemetery that is located in the western part of Ardmillan, west of Ardmillan Terrace and north of Slateford Road. The cemetery was laid out in 1881 and primarily contains late 19th century and early 20th century burials, including over 120 war graves of

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

personnel. Graves include Charles Thomas Kennedy and James Davis, both recipients of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, and footballers Walter Fairgrieve, Bobby Walker and Alex Walker. The cemetery was under private ownership until the early 1990s when it was acquired by the council due to safety concerns over its neglected state. It was originally built to ease overcrowding at the nearby Dalry cemetery.

References

{{Areas of Edinburgh Areas of Edinburgh