Crewe Toll is an area in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, the Scottish capital. Telford Road approaching Crewe Toll roundabout - geograph

The area takes its name from the

Toll house A tollhouse or toll house is a building with accommodation for a toll collector, beside a tollgate on a toll road, canal, or toll bridge. History Many tollhouses were built by turnpike trusts in England, Wales and Scotland during the 18th and ...

which once stood at the junction of Ferry Road and Crewe Road North and South. The name Crewe, or a variation thereof (Creue, Crew or Crou), can be identified on maps as early as those from John Adair's 17th century survey, indicating that a farm stood southeast of the present Crewe Toll. "Toll" is shown on Gellatly's "New Map of the country 12 miles round Edinburgh" published in 1834. The 1853 and 1913 OS maps show a 'smithy' at the junction. All buildings on the junction disappeared when it was enlarged at some point in the 1920s to take the additional traffic from the newly-constructed Telford Road. The

Western General Hospital The Western General Hospital (often abbreviated to simply ‘The Western General’) is a health facility at Craigleith, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Lothian. History The hospital was designed by Peddie and Kinnear and opened as ...

is in the vicinity. Another hospital, the Northern General, was also in the area but this is now the site of a

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

supermarket.

Edinburgh's Telford College Edinburgh College is a further and higher education institution with campuses in Edinburgh and Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland ...

(tertiary) was at Crewe Toll, but has moved to a site at Granton.

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational private boarding and day school in Craigleith, Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in ...

(private, secondary) is close by. A major aerospace facility is situated in the area, the Leonardo S.p.A. facility that dates to a 1943

Ferranti Ferranti International PLC or simply Ferranti was a UK-based electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century, from 1885 until its bankruptcy in 1993. At its peak, Ferranti was a significant player in power grid system ...

factory originally set up to produce

gyro gunsight A gyro gunsight (G.G.S.) is a modification of the non-magnifying reflector sight in which target lead (the amount of aim-off in front of a moving target) and bullet drop are calculated automatically. The first examples were developed in Britain ...

s for the

Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...

that later became a major

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

development site. The site changed hands repeatedly, from Ferranti to GEC-Ferranti, then GEC-Marconi, then

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

, then SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems, then SELEX Galileo and finally Leonardo. The location was the site of a junction on the Caledonian Railway. This junction was spelled 'Crew' up until closure in the 1960s, long after the spelling 'Crewe' was settled as the area built up. Some nearby Edinburgh districts include

Craigleith Craigleith () is a small island in the Firth of Forth off North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland. Its name comes from the Scottish Gaelic ''Creag Lìte'' meaning "rock of Leith". It is at its highest point. Geography and geology Craigleith is ...

, Pilton,

Inverleith Inverleith (Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Lìte'') is an inner suburb in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. Its neighbours include Trinity, Edinburgh, Trinity to the north a ...

, and Silverknowes.

References

{{Reflist Areas of Edinburgh