Dumbiedykes () is a residential area in the centre of

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 ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It mainly comprises

public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

developments. It is bounded in the north by Holyrood Road, the west by the Pleasance and St Leonard's Street and the east by

Holyrood Park Holyrood Park (also called the King's Park or Queen's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender) is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It is open to the public. It has an array of hills, lo ...

Etymology

The site housed Edinburgh's Deaf and Dumb School until the mid 19th century. As the inhabitants of the school were known as the "dumbies", the local area became known as Dumbie Dykes or Dumbies Dykes.

History

Through the first part of the 20th century, the area was composed of tenement buildings many of which did not have internal toilet facilities. By the 1960s many of these buildings had become dilapidated, and resultingly the buildings were demolished and the tenants moved to new estates in Craigmillar, The Inch, Liberton, Prestonfield,

Restalrig Restalrig ( ) is a small residential suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland (historically, an estate and independent parish). It is located east of the city centre, west of Craigentinny and to the east of Lochend, Edinburgh, Lochend, both of which it ...

, Burdiehouse, Gracemount,

Gilmerton Gilmerton is a suburb of Edinburgh, about southeast of the city centre. The toponym "Gilmerton" is derived from a combination of – a personal name and later surname meaning "Servant of he VirginMary", from which comes the first element, ...

and other areas of Edinburgh.

Ian Rankin Sir Ian James Rankin (born 28 April 1960) is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels. Early life Rankin was born in Cardenden, Fife. His father, James, owned a grocery shop, and his mother, Isobel ...

called the rebuilt tenement area "Greenfield" in his novel '' Dead Souls'' (1999): Despite the area benefiting from a superficial building regeneration including modern flats, student residences,

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

sports facilities and being popular area to live in due to its closeness to the centre of Edinburgh and its immediate proximity to the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

, when compared with other residential areas in central Edinburgh it still remains an economically impoverished part of the city, suffering from the associated aspects of social problems such as disproportionately high levels of unemployment along with drug and alcohol abuse. In recent years there have also been several notable cases of suspected murders.

References

External links

Bartholomew's ''Chronological map of Edinburgh'' (1919)

"The lost Edinburgh community that was 'wiped from the map' in the 1960s"
by David McLean (''Edinburgh Live'' website), 10 Oct 2023. (Accessed 26 Sep 2024). Has a number of historical photographs (c. 1930s-70s) of Dumbiedykes.
"Lost Edinburgh: The Dumbiedykes"
by David McLean (''The Scotsman'' website), 12 Nov 2014. (Accessed 26 Sep 2024). {{Areas of Edinburgh

Dumbiedykes Dumbiedykes () is a residential area in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It mainly comprises Public housing in the United Kingdom, public housing developments. It is bounded in the north by Holyrood Road, the west by the The Pleasance (stree ...

Housing estates in Edinburgh

Etymology

History

See also

References

External links