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Davidson's Mains

Village and district of Edinburgh, Scotland

Summary

Village and district of Edinburgh, Scotland

Field	Value
official_name	Davidson's Mains
country	Scotland
static_image_name	Davidson's Mains - geograph.org.uk - 2346014.jpg
static_image_caption	Main Street
pushpin_map	Edinburgh
pushpin_map_caption	Location within the City of Edinburgh council area
coordinates
os_grid_reference	NT204755
unitary_scotland	City of Edinburgh
lieutenancy_scotland	Edinburgh
post_town	EDINBURGH
postcode_area	EH
postcode_district	EH4
dial_code	0131
constituency_westminster	Edinburgh West
constituency_scottish_parliament	Edinburgh Western

Davidson's Mains is a former village and now a district in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is adjacent to the districts of Barnton, Cramond, Silverknowes, Blackhall and Corbiehill/House O'Hill. It was absorbed into Edinburgh as part of the boundary changes in 1920 and is part of the EH4 postcode area.

Locals sometimes abbreviate the name to D'Mains.

Etymology

Davidson's Mains is named after William Davidson, a wealthy merchant who bought the nearby estate of Muirhouse in 1776. "Mains" is the Scots word for an estate farm or home farm.

Prior to the 19th century, it was known as Muttonhole. That name appears on an 1845 map, but was replaced by Davidson's Mains on the 1852 Ordnance Survey. Locals continued to use the name Muttonhole until at least 1860. According to Stuart Harris, a suggestion that mutton- derives from the Anglian (ge)mythe, meaning the junction of roads or streams, does not stand up in the light of several other places named Muttonhole in lowland Scotland. Rather, the name is Early Scots mouton holh or halh, a place were moutons or wedder lambs were pastured.

History

The original village runs east-west and is still identifiable as a series of modest cottages on each side of the road. Quality Street was added in 1827, designed by James Gillespie Graham. The church on Quality Street was built as Cramond Free Church in 1843 and is by David Cousin. The railway arrived late in 1894 but spurred villa development to the north and north-west.

Description

Within the district there is a variety of shops and businesses, ranging from cobblers to large supermarkets, as well as food outlets of various kinds. The district is also served by four churches, a Tesco, a doctor's surgery, two dental surgeries, the Corbie and other takeaways, Davidson's Mains Primary School and a Greggs. The state secondary school that serves the area is the Royal High School. Davidson's Mains Park is near the high school which has a play park and a football pitch.

Public Transport

Davidson's Mains railway station closed in 1951 prior to the Beeching cuts due to underuse. The area lay beyond the Edinburgh tram network.

The district is currently served by two bus routes run by Lothian Buses: the 21, which runs between the Gyle Centre and the Royal Infirmary, and the 47, which runs between Cammo and Penicuik.

References

"Davidson's Mains (Muttonhole)".
"Granton History: Muirhouse".
(2002). "The Place Names of Edinburgh: Their Origins and History". Steve Savage Publishers.
Grants Old and New Edinburgh vol.5 p.110
"A Brief History of Davidson's Mains".
Buildings of Scotland : Edinburgh by Gifford, McWilliam and Walker
"home". Davidson's Mains Primary School.
"Granton History: Edinburgh tram routes 1950".
"Timetables".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

areas-of-edinburgh

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