Muirhouse

Origin of Name: Muirhouse means house on the moor with the suggestion of bogginess and the area is named after the house of the same name.

Position: Silverknowes to the west, Firth of Forth to the north, West Pilton to the east and Drylaw to the south. See map above.

Historical Notes: Around 1320, King Robert the Bruce gave the lands of Muirhouse to Sir William Oliphant of Aberlady. The Oliphants owned the estate for around 300 years but in the mid 1600s Sir James Oliphant, a judge, murdered his gardener so it was passed to his son also James but he murdered his mother and fled the country.
The original Muirhouse house was built around 1670 but mostly demolished when the present house was built by Captain William Davidson in 1832. The Davidson family bought the estate in 1776 from the Watson family and owned it until 1870 when it passed to the Earl of Morton. The Davidsons gave their name to nearby Davidson's Mains.
In 1953 most of the estate was sold and the council began building public housing. This continued up until the early 1970s with a mixture of boxed flats and high rises. Like a lot of other large council estates Muirhouse had its share of anti social behaviour and by the 1980s it had a reputation for drugs, violence and crime. But in recent years a lot of regeneration has taken place with new housing replacing the out of date boxed flats. It had and still has a great community spirit.

Today: An area with a lot of new housing and regeneration going on. There is a mix of flats and housing: council, privately rented, housing association and privately owned. Plans are in progress for new streets around the demolished Craigroyston school and a town centre area with local facilities. The North Edinburgh Arts Centre opened in Muirhouse in 2002 and provides a cultural centre for all the community with many facilities.

Did You Know: Martello Court built in 1967 is the tallest residential building in Edinburgh at 210 ft tall with 23 storeys.

The novelist Irvine Welsh, author of Trainspotting among many others, grew up in Muirhouse

There is another old mansion in Muirhouse – Broomfield just along Marine Drive from MuirHouse. Little is known of its history. It existed in 1849 and later that century was owned by the Haig family. After a spell belonging to the gas board it became the Commodore hotel in the 1960s and is now a Globetrotter Inn.

Links:
http://muirhouse.wordpress.com/ Community Council

http://www.northedinburgharts.co.uk/home.php

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Muirhouse-Living-Memories-Edinburgh/288338074546838 A great facebook site for Muirhouse

http://mydg.org.uk/ Muirhouse Youth Development Group