Burgh Muir

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The Burgh Muir was an area to the south of Edinburgh city centre upon which much of the southern portion of the city now rests, following expansions of the 18th and 19th Centuries. It was part of the ancient forest of Drumselch, and was gifted to the city by David I in the twelfth century.

The Burgh Muir (also known as the Burrow Mure and latterly Boroughmuir) extended, using today's street names, from Leven Street, Bruntsfield Place and Morningside Road to the east, and Dalkeith Road to the west, stretching southwards to the Jordan Burn to the east and the Peffermill to the west, a total area of approximately five square miles. The contemporary names for the roads which bounded the Muir were "Easter Hiegat", corresponding to Dalkieth Rd and "Wester Heigat" corresponding to Morningside Road.

The Muir is remembered in the area between Bruntsfield and Morningside now known as Burghmuirhead (also sometimes spelled Boroughmuirhead). This area itself is generally subsumed into its neighbours, but the post office continues to be known as Boroughmuirhead Post Office.

The last open, public land on the area of the Burgh Muir is Bruntsfield Links, which lies alongside former loch The Meadows.

[edit] History

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Records of David I's gift of the Burgh Muir have been lost, many of them when the Earl of Hertford sacked the city in 1544. It is possible that the Burgh Muir was gifted at the same time as the foundation of Holyrood Abbey in 1143, when Edinburgh was first referred to as a Royal Burgh.

Certain areas of the Burgh Muir were exempted from the City's jurisdiction, and included the Crown Lands of the Grange, the Provostry Lands of Whitehouse, the Sergeantry Lands of Bruntsfield and Merchiston, all due to their previous issue under separate Royal Charters.

The forest was used for hunting, and was where in 1513 (prior to Flodden), again in 1523, and again in 1542, thousands of men assembled to fight the English army. It has also been used as a quarantine area for plague victims.

Consolidation of what had hitherto been an unregulated area of land occurred in 1508, with a Royal Charter issued by James IV permitting leases of land to citizens.