The Grange, Edinburgh

The Grange (originally St Giles' Grange) is a suburb of Edinburgh, about one and a half miles south of the city centre, with Morningside and Greenhill to the west and Newington to the east. It is a conservation area characterised by large late Victorian stone-built villas, often with very large gardens. Many have now been sub-divided into flats, with further flats often being built in the grounds.

uperiors

There are mentions of 'Sanct-Geill-Grange' in charters of King David and King Edgar, as church lands attached to St. Giles parish church in Edinburgh, the king retaining the superiority. [ Stewart-Smith, J., "The Grange of St. Giles", Edinburgh, 1898: 2] On June 16, 1376, King Robert II granted the superiority of the barony and lands of St Giles to his eldest son, John, Earl of Carrick, Steward of Scotland. [ "The Great Seal of Scotland", 1306-1424: 27] In 1391 the estate was conferred upon the Wardlaw family. [ "The Great Seal of Scotland", 1306-1424: 40]

On October 29, 1506, St Giles Grange passed to John Cant, a Burgess of Edinburgh, and his spouse Agnes Carkettle, [ "The Great Seal of Scotland", 1424-1513: 2999] and in 1517 they granted the use of eighteen acres of land to the nuns of St Catherine of Sienna. [ Stewart-Smith, J., "The Grange of St. Giles", Edinburgh, 1898: 21] On March 19, 1691 a John Cant sold St Giles Grange in its entirety to William Dick. It is interesting to note that at that time the 18 acres previously feued to the nuns was now in the possession of Sir John Napier, the famous inventor of logarithms. [ Stewart-Smith, J., "The Grange of St. Giles", Edinburgh, 1898: 28-9] When Isabel Dick, the heiress, married Sir Andrew Lauder, 5th Baronet of Fountainhall, in 1731, The Grange passed to him.

Grange house

The original tower house appears to be of a very early date possibly the 13th century, ornamented with two turrets and a battlemented roof; its position was isolated at the eastern end of the Burgh Muir, which at that time consisted of waste tracts of moorland and morass, stretching out southward as far as the Braid Hills and eastward to St. Leonard's Crags. [ Stewart-Smith, J., "The Grange of St. Giles", Edinburgh, 1898: 5]

The mansion, The Grange House, was enlarged over the centuries, a major restoration being carried out by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bt. [ Stewart-Smith, J., "The Grange of St. Giles", Edinburgh, 1898: 328-336] On May 16, 1836, Lord Cockburn recorded in his diary: "There was an annular eclipse of the sun yesterday afternoon....it was a beautiful spectacle......I was on the top of the tower at The Grange House, with Sir Thomas Dick Lauder and his family."

The house survived until 1936 when it was demolished to make way for flats. Stone wyverns from its gateposts were put at the entrance to a stretch of Lover's Loan, a centuries-old path which was preserved in a late 19th century redevelopment and marked out with high stone walls separating it from the gardens on either side. At one point the path borders the Grange Cemetery where various well-known people are buried, including Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Hugh Miller, and Thomas Chalmers.

City arrives

From the 1860s The Grange was developed as an early suburb, built gradually upon the lands of The Grange estate — still owned by the Dick Lauder family. Some of the Victorian villas still retain substantial mature trees and gardens which pre-date the housing. In 1835 Earl Grey (of Reform Bill fame) stayed with Sir Thomas Dick Lauder at The Grange House, and commemorated his visit by planting an oak-tree in a conspicuous spot in The Avenue, upon the bank of the north side, not very far from the ivy-clad arch. It was called 'Earl Grey's Oak' and was still healthy in 1898. [ Stewart-Smith, J., "The Grange of St. Giles", Edinburgh, 1898: 340] It is not known if it has survived.

Within the area lies the campus of the Astley Ainslie Hospital.

Notes

References

* Stewart-Smith, J; "The Grange of St Giles", Edinburgh, 1898, "is possibly the best history of The Grange extant."

External links

* [http://grange.interactive.co.uk/ Grange Association]
* [http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst7869.html Edinburgh University Gazeteer article on The Grange]