Craigmillar

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Craigmillar is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, about 3 miles south-east of the city centre, with Dean Village and Duddingston to the north, and Newcraighall to the east. The name comes from Scottish Gaelic Crag Maol Ard meaning "High Bare Rock".

[edit] History

The area consists of large public housing schemes aimed at mostly low income groups, ranging from private bungalows to Edinburgh City Council-owned high rise tower blocks. The housing scheme was created through the Housing (Scottish) Act of 1924, with lands bought from the Wauchope Estate.

Despite the relative newness of most of the housing in the area, the settlement of Craigmillar itself is very old, and contains Craigmillar Castle, built in c. 1400.

'Peffermill Court', one of two 14 storey tower blocks in Craigmillar Castle Gardens

[edit] Facilities and notable people

Craigmillar has seen riots in the 1980s amid complaints about the lack of facilities in the area. It now has an arts centre and a library - which has actually been in place since 1974 - and there is some grassroots-based community action trying to tackle the area's social problems. One such venture is the highly regarded Craigmillar Festival Society.

Helen Duncan, the last woman to be imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act, lived in Craigmillar. Bill Douglas, the famous filmmaker was born and raised in Newcraighall. The former Craigmillar Primary School building houses a renowned mural by John Maxwell, who was trained by Fernand Léger, and was a fellow student of Marc Chagall in Paris. There is a fine example of 20th century stained glass by Sadie McLean in Robin Chapel, in the Thistle Foundation (a housing complex for disabled people in the centre of Craigmillar).

The area also has the largest concrete sculpture/playstructure in Europe^{[citation needed]}, called "Gulliver, The Gentle Giant that cares and shares" by Jimmy Boyle and built by the local CAT team for The Craigmillar Festival Society in 1976.

The University of Edinburgh has playing fields in this area, including one of the oldest modern-style shinty fields in Scotland.