Incorporated into the city in 1920,[3] the area was once home to Arthur Conan Doyle, who lived in a small cottage near the Braid Burn, which is now inside the grounds of the Cameron Toll Shopping Centre car park and is now a small school.
Increased development in the area from the mid 1970s to current times[when?] has seen Liberton develop into a popular choice for homeowners with areas such as Double Hedges, Alnwickhill and Howdenhall often representing better value for money than locations closer to the city centre.
Derivation
The name, of Old English origin and formerly written Libertun,[4] has generally been believed to signify 'Leper Town', the area being supposed at one time to have contained a small colony of lepers exiled from the city. However modern authorities have suggested it may more probably have meant ‘barley farm on a hillside’, from the Old English words hlith, hillside and bere-tūn, barley farm.[5][6]
This rural parish was split into Over Liberton and Nether Liberton, the latter centring on a water mill standing on the Braid Burn.
History
The suburb is home to a prehistoric standing stone just over 6-foot in height.[7]
A chapel of Liberton was granted to the monks of Holyrood Abbey in 1143 by MacBeth, Baron of Liberton. The latter is mentioned in the Charters of King David I from 1124. In 1240 a document records the transfer of the church from St Cuthberts in Edinburgh back to Holyrood Abbey and this control continued until the Reformation.[8]
In 1387 Nether Liberton was under control of Adam Forrester (whose family later owned Corstorphine) and is recorded (with Provost Andrew Yichtson) as benefactor of the repairs and rebuilding of St Giles Cathedral that year.[9]
At the time of the Reformation a church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, already existed at Liberton, under control of Holyrood Abbey.[10]
The current Liberton Church, designed by James Gillespie Graham, was built in 1815 after the old church was burned beyond repair.[11] The graveyard contains a "table stone" to the south-west of the church bearing one of the earliest known sculpted depictions of ploughing.[12] A modern cemetery lies to the north-west of the older kirkyard. The war memorial at the western entrance (1920) is by Pilkington Jackson.
Liberton Tower is a well-preserved and restored late medieval (15th century) tower house standing to the south of the Braid Hills.[13] Liberton House nearby is a late 16th-century A-listed fortified house, also restored. The house is open to the public free of charge by appointment only.[14][15]
Liberton became part of Edinburgh on 1 November 1920.[16]
Although the area is mostly residential, it has a riding school and stables, which take advantage of the nearby Braid Hills to offer pony trekking. Also in the area is Liberton High School, Gracemount High School and several primary schools (Liberton, St John Vianny, Gracemount and St Katherine's). Sporting activities are represented by Liberton Bowling Club based opposite the Kirk, a Golf club off Gilmerton Road and a Rugby Union club at Double Hedges Park.
Sam Latter (1904–2010), Scottish footballer and oldest man in Scotland from 2009 until his death at the age of 106, lived in Liberton Gardens for over 70 years.[21]
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