Murrayfield is an area to the west 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 ...

city centre in

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 is to the east of

Corstorphine Corstorphine (Scottish Gaelic: ''Crois Thoirfinn'') ( ) is an area of the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh. Formerly a separate village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, it is now a suburb of the city, having been formally incorporate ...

and north of

Balgreen Balgreen ( or ) is a suburb of Edinburgh, located approximately two miles west of the city centre, most commonly known for its primary school, Balgreen Primary. It is located to the west of Murrayfield and Saughtonhall, to the east of Corsto ...

, Saughtonhall and

Roseburn Roseburn is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The area lies in the west of the city, approximately a 20-minute walk from the city centre, west of Haymarket and close to the Murrayfield area (and Murrayfield Stadium). It is imm ...

. The A8 road runs east–west through the south of the area. Murrayfield is often considered to include the smaller neighbouring areas of Ravelston (to the north) and

(to the south).

History

The name comes from the estate of Archibald Murray who built Murrayfield House for himself in 1735 on the south-facing slopes over the area. Archibald Murray bought the land from Nisbet of Dean in 1733; it was previously Nisbet's Park. Alexander Murray, Lord Henderland was born here the year after its construction. In some early records, the name appears as "Murray's Field". Much of the Murrayfield area was semi-rural up until the early 19th century. Among mansion houses built then was Belmont House in 1828 by architect

William Playfair William Playfair (22 September 1759 – 11 February 1823) was a Scottish engineer and political economist. The founder of graphical methods of statistics, Playfair invented several types of diagrams: in 1786 he introduced the line, area and ...

for Lord Mackenzie and a large villa known as Rock Villa (later Rockshiel) appears on the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

Map of 1855. The OS map from the 1890s suggests this area remained spacious with scattered individual houses and villas throughout the nineteenth-century. Easter Belmont Road (a private road), is one of Edinburgh's "Millionaire's Rows" and was home to local businessman David Murray. Aside from sports facilities, there is much residential land use and a private hospital, Spire Murrayfield Hospital, part of the

Spire Healthcare Spire Healthcare Group plc is the second-largest provider of private healthcare in the United Kingdom. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Spire Healthcare was formed from the sale of Bup ...

group. There are also a few shops, businesses and hotels.

Sports

Murrayfield is known for

Murrayfield Stadium Murrayfield Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The stadium is owned by the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) who has its headquarters based at the stadium, and is the national stadium of the Scotla ...

, home to the Scottish national rugby union team and venue for many sporting events. In the shadow of the stadium is Murrayfield Ice Rink, which currently hosts the Edinburgh Capitals ice hockey team and previously played host to the famous Murrayfield Racers. In the 2006–07 season, Heart of Midlothian played their

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

ties at Murrayfield.

has also been the venue for some large concerts. In addition to the stadium, there are Murrayfield Lawn Tennis Club and Murrayfield golf course which is between Ravelston and

Corstorphine Hill Corstorphine Hill is a low ridge-shaped hill rising above the western suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. Although there has been residential and commercial development on its lower slopes, especially in the south and west, most of the hill is occu ...

. The tennis club was founded in 1904 as The West Edinburgh Tennis and Croquet Club. Murrayfield Golf Club was founded in 1896 and its initial membership was limited to '300 gentlemen and 200 ladies'; in 1904 it was laid out on Ravelston Estate west of Murrayfield Road. Murrayfield Golf Club is notable for having been a mixed club from the start with female members having the same rights and privileges as the men.

Schools

The well-known independent schools, St. George's School for Girls and the

Merchant Company of Edinburgh The Royal Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh, previously known as the Merchant Company of Edinburgh is a mercantile company and Guild officially recognised in 1681, but dating back to at least 1260. The Company, or Confraternity, was ...

The Mary Erskine School The Mary Erskine School (MES) is an all-girls Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1694 and has a roll of around 750 pupils. The majority of its pupils live in the surrounding area ...

for girls are situated in the Murrayfield area. The local primary school for most is Roseburn Primary School and Murrayfield is part of the Craigmount High School catchment area. The nearest Roman Catholic schools are Fox Covert R.C. Primary School and St. Augustine's High School.

Notable residents

Chris Hoy Sir Christopher Andrew Hoy (born 23 March 1976) is a former Track cycling, track cyclist and racing driver from Scotland who represented Great Britain at the Olympics, Great Britain at the Olympic Games, Olympic and World Championships and Scot ...

grew up on the boundary of Corstorphine and Murrayfield.

References

External links