East Craigs

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Typical suburban housing in East Craigs.

East Craigs is a popular residential suburb of Edinburgh located in the north-west of the city. It lies next to the green belt, and prior to development was a working farm. Development of the area began in 1922 when East Craigs Farm was purchased by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency (SASA) as a centre for agricultural research. However, much of the land was made available to housing developers from the 1930s onwards. It neighbours West Craigs (which is much less developed), Maybury and Drumbrae.

[edit] Buildings and Area

The oldest building in East Craigs is East Craigs House (55°56′56″N 3°18′36″W / 55.94889, -3.31 (East Craigs House)), built in 1768 with a semi-octagonal stairwell added c.1800. It now forms part of the SASA complex. New developments of small family-sized houses and low-rise flats were built in the 1970s and 1980s. In the neighbouring more prosperous area of Craigmount, developed before the second world war there are numerous bungalows and spacious family houses. Craigmount High School was built in 1970 to alleviate pressure on surrounding secondary schools. A new building opened at the beginning of the 2003 academic year. East Craigs Primary School was built in 1979 to accommodate an influx of families moving into newly-built housing nearby, this is considered a very good school as it was purpose built and is ideal for those with disabilities. There were few facilities before they built a new extension, which is now flourishing and has been brought to life by the children.

East Craigs is pleasantly green with several parks. The Bughtlin Burn flows through the area. The names of many roads and developments in East Craigs reflect the area's farming past, e.g. Hayfield, Mearenside, Burnbrae.