Pilton

Origin of Name: Pilton comes from the old Barony of Piltoun.

Position: Granton to the north and east, Drylaw & Inverleith to the south and Muirhouse to the west. See map above.

Historical Notes: The Barony of Piltoun was owned by a Peter Rollock also known as Lord Rollock back in 1610 then by Sir Hugh McCulloch in 1678. A mansion house stood on the estate which burned down in 1749. Sir Philip Ainslie acquired the estate in 1780 but by 1817 it was split into East and West Pilton and the Ramsay family of Barnton owned the east. The only buildings were the two farms – West Pilton which stood where West Pilton Avenue joins Pennywell Road today and East Pilton which was roughly where Ainslie Park Leisure Centre is today. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, housing in East Pilton was built and in 1936 work started on West Pilton (divided by a former railway line now West Granton Access Road). West Pilton wasn't completed until after WWII. The majority was council housing and most of the tenants in the west came from slum clearances in Leith and in East Pilton from the Old Town. Both Pilton's were quite different from each other with the East having better housing, infrastructure and community spirit.
By the 1970s with rising unemployment and the disappearance of local industries much of West Pilton fell into decline and this continued in the 1980s, But since the 1990s regeneration has taken place and new projects undertaken to promote more of a community feeling.

Today: West Pilton has been undergoing regeneration for many years with many new built homes to buy or rent at affordable prices but there are still few amenities. East Pilton has better housing and amenities including a large superstore,a care hospital for the elderly and Ainslie Park Leisure Centre. There is also Spartans FC community football club which was established in 1951.

Did you know: A pit was sunk in Pilton wood in 1788 but was abandoned as the coal wasn't of good quality.

West Pilton Circus was built in 1951 on the site of an old reservoir that supplied water to Granton. There was a recreational ground within the circle of housing. Barrats housing bought the ground in 1989 and began the demolition of the Circus to build new housing.

East Pilton railway station opened in 1934 to serve the new building work as well as the Northern General Hospital and Bruce Peebles engineering works. The railway closed in 1962 and Bruce Peebles who had been in East Pilton since 1904 burned down in 1999.

Links:
http://www.edinburghnp.org.uk/community-councils/west-piltonwest-granton- West Pilton Community Council contact

http://www.edinburghnp.org.uk/community-councils/granton--district Pilton Community Council shared with Granton