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 12th 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 in the west, and Dalkeith Road in the east, and as far south as the Jordan Burn on the west and Peffermill to the east, a total area of approximately five square miles. The contemporary names for the roads which bounded the Muir were "Easter Hiegat", corresponding to Dalkeith 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, apart from the state secondary school and the post office which continue to be known as Boroughmuir High School and Boroughmuirhead Post Office respectively.
The last large open, public land on the main area of the Burgh Muir is Bruntsfield Links, which lies alongside former loch The Meadows. However, immediately to the south there is also the Hermitage of Braid.
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.
A note in appendix 2 (number 1878) of The Great Seal of Scotland (1306–1424) records a charter of King Robert II of Scotland which grants to William de Lawedre (or Lauder), elder son of Robert Lauder of Quarrelwood, the lands of Burrowmure in Edinburghshire. J.J.Reid, citing the Exchequer Rolls, states that in 1375 William de Lawedre was Custumar of Edinburgh, and another reference mentions that during his tenure of the same office he had at one time Adam Forrester as his colleague, and that they had become bound for the balance of King David II's ransom. Mr.Reid continues: "William of Lauder died either in 1375 or 1376, probably the latter, since for the arrears of his accounts of the year 1375, Alan Lauder became surety along with Forrester, the surviving Custumar." In further charters of the Great Seal (nos.724/5) both signed at Edinburgh on June 4, 1382, Alan de Lawedre succeeded his brother ("fratrem dicti Alani") William de Lawedre, both described in turn as "hereditary feuars" of the lands of Boroughmuir. Alan's son, George de Lawedre of Haltoun became Provost of Edinburgh.
Certain areas of the Burgh Muir were exempted from the City's jurisdiction, 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 the battle of 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.
In 1650 the torso, less the heart, of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose was buried in unconsecrated ground on the Burgh Muir following his hanging. He was disinterred and taken with great reverence and ceremony to St. Giles' Cathedral in 1661.