Gracemount

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Gracemount
Gracemount, 21st Century council houses - geograph.org.uk - 3958302.jpg
Modern (2010) apartments built on the site of Gracemount's 1960s tower blocks
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Gracemount
Location within the City of Edinburgh council area
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Gracemount
Location within Scotland
Council area
Country Scotland
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town EDINBURGH
Postcode district EH16
Dialling code 0131
Police Scotland
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
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UK
Scotland
55°54′19″N3°09′27″W / 55.90516°N 3.15739°W / 55.90516; -3.15739

Gracemount is a neighbourhood in the south of Edinburgh, Scotland, bordering Alnwickhill and Kaimes to the west, Liberton to the north, Gilmerton to the east and Southhouse to the south.

Contents

Description

Although fairly small in territory and population (approximately 2 square miles in area, with three Scottish Government 'data zones' totalling just over 3,000 residents in 2021), [1] many of the wider area's local amenities are based here, owing to it being roughly at a midway point in the land around and between the old villages of Gilmerton and Liberton which was developed with a number of housing schemes between the 1950s and 1970s in response to Edinburgh's need to replace substandard inner-city housing. [2] Since then, several more private developments of varying sizes and scope have been added, creating a suburban cluster almost separate from the city's main urban area (partly due to the natural boundary of the Braid Hills); since 2007 this has formed the Liberton/Gilmerton ward under the City of Edinburgh Council serving a population of around 37,000 in 2021, [1] a figure that continues to creep upwards due to more housebuilding. Gracemount falls under Liberton's Community Council. [3]

Gracemount House in 2009 Gracemount House - geograph.org.uk - 1111999.jpg
Gracemount House in 2009
Gracemount Leisure Centre in 2012 Gracemount Leisure Centre - geograph.org.uk - 2844784.jpg
Gracemount Leisure Centre in 2012

The neighbourhood is based around the grounds of the late-18th century Gracemount House, [4] a Category B listed mansion [5] [6] which has become derelict in 2018, having previously been utilised as the local community centre. A few other country manors have survived in the area, including St Catherine's [7] (now a pub-restaurant) with its 17th-century Balm Well, [8] [9] and Southfield House which served as a sanatorium throughout the 20th century; the 1870s Northfield House, latterly a hotel, was already unoccupied and earmarked for demolition as part of a redevelopment but this was hastened in 2023 after arson attacks. [10] [11] Other historic buildings include the 1890s Mount Alvernia Poor Clare Convent [12] adjacent to the older buildings of Liberton Hospital (which is today used for geriatric medicine along with nearby Ellen's Glen House) and the 1880s Original Industrial School (Guthrie Court). [13] [14]

Certain 'data zones' in and around Gracemount are considered to be economically deprived, [15] [16] with several within the 'top' 20% under the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation studies in 2012, 2016 and 2020. [17] Original housing is mainly modest terraced houses and three-storey tenements, most still with typical grey pebbledash exteriors dating from the time of their construction. There were also three 14-storey tower blocks [18] [19] (built 1962, demolished 2009) [4] [20] [21] situated just north of the mansion house, with modern houses and apartments filling that gap site and others in the vicinity. [22] [23]

Within Gracemount itself, facilities include a refurbished shopping precinct, [24] Catholic church, [4] leisure centre with swimming pool and 5-a-side football pitches (opened 1989) [25] [26] NHS medical practice, [27] council services office (covering much of southern and central Edinburgh) [28] and four schools: Kaimes Special School, St Catherine's RC Primary [29] (a feeder for Holy Rood High), [30] Gracemount Primary, [31] [32] and Gracemount High School; the eponymous schools are unusual in that the primary has a very large roll (575 in 2019) [16] while the secondary roll is only slightly higher (623 in 2023), [33] with another provision – Liberton High School – less than a mile away. A local handball team, Gracemount Edinburgh Handball Club, trains at the high school having started out at the leisure centre. The district's police station is located to the west of the area at Howdenhall, [34] where a children's residential home was also situated until closed in 2023 following multiple reports of abuse by staff. [35]

The only public transport in the area is the bus, with several Lothian Buses routes running along Captain's Road (B701) to the south of the neighbourhood and on Liberton Road (A701). [36] The latter is one of the main road arteries between the city centre and the Edinburgh City Bypass (A720), the junction for which at Straiton (on the boundary with Midlothian) is less than a mile from Gracemount to the south.

Demographics

EthnicityLiberton/Gilmerton WardEdinburgh [37]
White82.6%84.9%
Asian10.2%8.6%
Black2.7%2.1%
Mixed2.4%2.5%
Other2.1%1.9%

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References

  1. 1 2 Electoral Ward: Liberton/Gilmerton, Scottish Government Statistics
  2. ↑ Scotland | OS 1:1,250/1:2,500, 1944-1973, Explore Georeferenced Maps (National Library of Scotland)
  3. ↑ Our area/dates, Liberton and District Community Council
  4. 1 2 3 Gracemount, Gazetteer for Scotland
  5. ↑ Gracemount off Lasswade Road (LB28076), Historic Environment Scotland
  6. ↑ History of the Mansion, Gracemount Mansion Development Trust
  7. ↑ St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  8. ↑ Balm Well, St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  9. ↑ St Catherine's Well, Gazetteer for Scotland
  10. ↑ Inside abandoned old Edinburgh hotel set to be demolished for student flats, Edinburgh Live, 27 March 2023
  11. ↑ Northfield House demolished following fires, The Edinburgh Reporter, 16 August 2023
  12. ↑ Poor Clare's Convent, 105-109 Lasswade Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  13. ↑ Original Industrial School for Boys (Dr Guthrie's), Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, Children's Homes
  14. ↑ Guthrie Court, 10 Lasswade Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  15. ↑ Gracemount, 20schemes
  16. 1 2 Summarised inspection findings | Gracemount Primary School and Nursery Class, Education Scotland, 17 September 2019
  17. ↑ S01008557 Gracemount, Southhouse and Burdiehouse (part), Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020
  18. ↑ Gracemount, Tower Block (University of Edinburgh)
  19. ↑ Edinburgh, Gracemount, General, Canmore
  20. ↑ Liberton and Gracemount, EdinPhoto
  21. ↑ High-rise tower blocks demolished, Times of Malta, 26 October 2009
  22. ↑ Edinburgh builds first council homes in 20 years, Construction Enquirer, 29 April 2010
  23. ↑ Gracemount Housing, Smith Scott Mullan Associates
  24. ↑ Gracemount Civic Square, Maxi Construction Ltd
  25. ↑ Gracemount Leisure Centre, Edinburgh Leisure
  26. ↑ Gracemount Leisure Centre, Gazetteer for Scotland
  27. ↑ Gracemount Medical Practice, NHS Scotland
  28. ↑ South East locality, City of Edinburgh Council
  29. ↑ About Our School, St Catherine's Primary School
  30. ↑ Roman Catholic primary school catchment areas, City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  31. ↑ About Us, Gracemount Primary School
  32. ↑ Non-denominational primary school catchment areas, City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  33. ↑ About Us, Gracemount High School
  34. ↑ Howdenhall Police Station, Police Scotland
  35. ↑ Children's secure unit closed permanently Edinburgh after string of failures, The Edinburgh Reporter, 7 September 2023
  36. ↑ Network Map including Edinburgh Trams, Lothian Buses. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  37. ↑ {{cite web|url=http:https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/scotland/wards/city_of_edinburgh/S13002934__liberton_gilmerton/
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