Lochend Park | |
---|---|
Edinburgh, Scotland UK | |
Coordinates | 55°57′38″N3°09′38″W / 55.9606°N 3.1605°W |
Type | Urban park |
Site information | |
Owner | Edinburgh Council |
Open to the public | Yes |
Status | Open all year |
Lochend Park is a public park in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is situated in the Lochend / Restalrig area, next to Lochend Castle and near Meadowbank Stadium. The loch with its wide range of waterfowl is the main attraction, but there are also historical buildings, a children's play area, and sports areas. The park was awarded a Green Flag in 2012 in recognition of it being a quality greenspace. Within the park there is a 16th-century doocot which is Category B listed. [1]
The park was originally the grounds of Lochend Castle, part of the feudal lands of Robert Logan of Restalrig. The original castle was replaced by Lochend House in 1810 and only the servants quarters and kitchen chimney remain from the original house.
The Doocot was built in the 16th century to supply pigeons to Lochend Castle. In 1564 it was used as a "plague kiln" to burn clothes and bedding of infected people during an outbreak of plague. In the 19th century it served as a boat house for the Royal Humane Society who were set up to save people from drowning. The boat was also used in winter to check if the ice on the loch was thick enough for games of curling.
Lochend Loch served as Leith's main water supply from around 1650. Originally gravity-fed, there is an early 18th century pump station, which facilitated the process, between the doocot and the loch. Leith shared Edinburgh's water supply from the mid-18th century and the final water supplies from the loch were sealed off around 1920.
Railway lines were built to west and south in the mid-19th century, isolating the park from the city. Although the railways were closed in the Beeching cuts of the 1950s it was only in the early 21st century that improved links were made on these sides, being required with the development of the new flats that now overlook the park.
There are a range of habitats to be found in the park. The loch is home to a wide variety of wildfowl, including swans, geese, coots, moorhens, mallards and herons, as well as rats. A viewing platform and planting beds, funded by the City of Edinburgh Council and WREN, were created around the pond in the spring of 2011. The viewing platform gives people greater access to see the wildlife and allows local schools the chance to take part in pond dipping activities. The new planting, including yellow flag iris and water mint, will enhance the biodiversity of the pond by providing more habitats and food for the local wildlife.
The Friends of Lochend Park is a group of local volunteers who help to administer and improve the park resources. In 2014 they bought the old police telephone box at the north-east entrance to the park, to be refurbished as a store for visitor materials.
Leith is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith.
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Lochend is a mainly residential suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is named after Lochend Castle and the adjacent Lochend Loch, located in the western part of Restalrig on the boundary between Leith and The Canongate, approximately two miles from Edinburgh city centre. The suburb consists largely of a 1930s public housing estate, and is bounded on the west by Easter Road.
Restalrig is a small residential suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located east of the city centre, west of Craigentinny and to the east of Lochend, both of which it overlaps. Restalrig Road is the main route through the area, running from London Road, at Jock's Lodge, to Leith Links. It is in the ward of Lochend.
The colony houses of Edinburgh were built between 1850 and 1910 as homes for artisans and skilled working-class families by philanthropic model dwellings companies. The first development was the Pilrig Model Buildings, near Leith Walk. Later developments across the city were built by the Edinburgh Cooperative Building Company Limited, founded in 1861. The founders of this company were influenced by the Reverend Dr. James Begg and the Reverend Dr. Thomas Chalmers, ministers of the Free Church of Scotland, who campaigned to improve the housing conditions of the poor.
Duloch, or Duloch Park, is a residential suburb of Dunfermline, in Fife, Scotland.
Eglinton Country Park is located on the grounds of the old Eglinton Castle estate in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland. Eglinton Park is situated in the parish of Kilwinning, part of the former district of Cunninghame, and covers an area of 400 ha ([98 acres ] of which are woodland. The central iconic feature of the country park is the ruined Eglinton Castle, once home to the Eglinton family and later the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton and chiefs of the Clan Montgomery. Eglinton Country Park is managed and maintained by North Ayrshire Council and its Ranger Service.
Lochend may refer to the following places:
Lochend House, also known as Restalrig Castle and Lochend Castle, is an occupied house, incorporating the remains of a 16th-century L-plan tower house, in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located in the Lochend area, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of Edinburgh Castle. The house is protected as a category B listed building.
Leith Links is the principal open space within Leith, the docks district of Edinburgh, Scotland. This public park is divided by a road into two main areas, a western section and an eastern section, both being largely flat expanses of grass bordered by mature trees. Historically it covered a wider area extending north as far as the shoreline of the Firth of Forth. This area of grass and former sand-dunes was previously used as a golf links.
Kilbirnie Loch, is a freshwater Loch situated in the floodplain between Kilbirnie, Glengarnock and Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It runs south-west to north-east for almost 2 km (1.2 mi), is about 0.5 km (0.31 mi) wide for the most part and has an area of roughly 3 km2. It has a general depth of around 5.2 metres to a maximum of around 11 metres. The loch is fed mainly by the Maich Water, which rises in the Kilbirnie Hills near Misty Law, and is drained by the Dubbs Water that runs past the Barr Loch into Castle Semple Loch, followed by the Black Cart, the White Cart at Renfrew and finally the River Clyde. The boundary between East Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire, in the vicinity of the loch, runs down the course of the Maich Water along the northern loch shore to then run up beside the Dubbs Water.
The Blae Loch is a small freshwater loch situated in a hollow in a low-lying area beneath Blaelochhead Hill in the Parish of Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland.
Sir Robert Logan of Restalrig was a Scottish knight involved in the Gowrie House affair of 1600.
Lochend Loch, which once had nearly three acres in surface area is now only a small freshwater loch remnant. It lies in the South Ayrshire Council Area, lying on the hill above Joppa, between Gallowhill and Lochend Farm.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Edinburgh: