Corstorphine

This article is about Corstorphine in Scotland. For Corstorphine in New Zealand, see Corstorphine, New Zealand.

Signpost in Corstorphine

Corstorphine was originally a village to the west of—and separate from—Edinburgh, Scotland, and is now a suburb of that city.

Corstorphine retains a busy main street with many independent small shops, although a number have closed in recent years since the opening of several retail parks to the west of Edinburgh, especially the Gyle Centre. Traffic on the main street, St John's Road, is often heavy, as it forms part of the A8 main road between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The actual "High Street" itself is no longer the main street, a distinction shared with Edinburgh.

Famous residents include Helen Cruickshank, an author. Corstorphine is also mentioned in the novels of Robert Louis Stevenson, and is the birthplace of Alexander Thomson, a writer and publisher on Bible translation.

The area was once served by Corstorphine railway station which provided direct trains to Edinburgh Waverley. It closed on Saturday 30th December 1962.

Landmarks and attractions

Corstorphine milestone

Edinburgh Zoo is situated to the east of Corstorphine, and is the area's largest and most popular tourist attraction.

Corstorphine has one of Scotland's best-preserved late medieval parish churches, the Collegiate Church of St. John the Baptist, with a short tower and spire and several well-preserved stone effigies of the local noble family, the Forresters of Corstorphine.

Corstorphine Hill is one of the so-called "Seven Hills of Edinburgh", with Queen Margaret University having a main campus located here from 1970 until 2007 when the university moved to Musselburgh.

Etymology of name

Corstorphine as a place-name has always been something of a mystery. Of three derivations advanced, the one most generally accepted is "Cross of Torphin" (an older rendering of the name Corstorphine being Crostorfyn), from Torfin grandson of Malcolm II, or from Torphin, an archdeacon of Lothian, said to have built a cross at this spot. Folk etymology connected it to Croix d’or fin, and tradition has it that a cross of fine gold was presented to the church by a Norman baron.

Probably the earliest surviving version of its name is Crostorfin, which dates from around 1128. Torfinn sometimes appears in Scottish records as Turpin, for example Turpin, Bishop of Brechin, 1178–98. In the medieval Liber Ecclesie de Scon it is written as Turphin and Turfin.

History

Corstorphine Parish Kirk

The first noticed proprietors of Corstorphine were David le Mareschall, in the reign of Alexander II, and Thomas le Mareschall and William de la Roche, whose names occur in Ragman Rolls of 1296. That estate stayed in the possession of the families of Thomas le Mareschall and William de la Roche until the reign of David II, when it was forfeited by David le Mareschall, and given by the King to Malcolm Ramsay. It was next held by William More of Abercorne, who left it to his brother, Gilchrist More, by whom it was sold to Adam Forester.

A principal family in the area were the Lords Forresters, whose name has been given to several streets, and whose large house can still be seen on Corstorphine High Street. Their main home, Corstorphine Castle, a 14th century stronghold, was in ruins by the end of the 18th century and does not exist today. The only remnant of the castle is the 16th century doocot (55°56′20.52″N 3°16′53.35″W / 55.9390333°N 3.2814861°W / 55.9390333; -3.2814861 (Corstorphine Doocot)) which stands alongside Dovecot Road.

The lands and Barony of Corstorphine have long been associated with the Forrester family. The earliest known individual of that name in the neighbourhood was a William Forrester, Esquire, who appears on the muster roll of the Peel of Linlithgow in 1311. However, the first firm link with Corstorphine comes with Adam Forrester a wealthy burgess of Edinburgh in the 1360s when he begins to acquire land in the vicinity.

Between 1374 and 1377 King Robert II confirmed Adam Forester, a burgess of Edinburgh, in the lands of the Lordship of Corstorphine,^[1] which had previously been owned by William More of Abercorn. Forrester founded a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, connected to the parish church of Corstorphine.

Sir John Forrester tomb (spouse hidden) in Corstorphine Parish Kirk.

Sir John Forrester of Corstorphine, who succeeded his father upon his death, was granted various lands, mostly in West Lothian, in 1426 which were united into the barony of Liberton. In Perth on 4 February 1431 James I confirmed him in the house and lands of Corstorphine which would be thereafter known as the Barony of Corstorphine. He likely founded the collegiate church of Corstorphine in 1429, which forms part of today's parish kirk. Sir John is thought to have died in 1448 and was buried in Corstorphine church where recumbent effigies of him and one of his wives survive. He had four children: John, Henry, Elizabeth, and Janet.

William Dunbar mentions a poet Roull of Corstorphin in his Lament for the Makaris c.1505. Little else is known of this poet, though one poem by him may be extant. Stewart Conn, Edinburgh's first appointed Makar,^[2] has celebrated Roull's memory in his volume Ghosts at Cockcrow.

The title then fell to his eldest son John, who is believed to have been more of a soldier than a civil servant. In 1443 he was with the Earl of Douglas when he destroyed Barnton castle, a stronghold of the Crichtons. As a direct consequence Forrester's house at Corstorphine was razed. He died in 1454 and was buried in Corstorphine church where his tomb can still be seen.

Alexander Forrester, John Forrester's great-grandson, was confirmed by James V in the lands and Barony of Corstorphine including Clerkington, Nether Liberton, Drilaw and Meadowfield. In 1539 he resigned Corstorphine in favour of James Forrester of Meadowfield, the husband of Alexander's granddaughter Agnes. This James ultimately succeeded Alexander and became James Forrester of Corstorphine.

James Forrester of Corstorphine (son of the previously mentioned James Forrester), husband of Janet Lauder, was confirmed by Mary, Queen of Scots, on 5 February 1556 in the Barony of Corstorphine. In 1577 Sir James presented the parish kirk with a bell for its steeple. This bell still survives, although it was renewed in 1728. James died on 4 June 1589 and his brother Henry was declared to be his heir.

On 22 October 1599 Henry Forrester of Corstorphine sold various lands within the parishes of Corstorphine and St Cuthbert's. Henry died sometime around 1615 and his eldest son George became laird. James VI had already confirmed George Forrester, son and heir apparent of Henry Forrester of Corstorphine and his wife Christine Livingstone in various properties in the barony of Corstorphine, on 15 November 1607.

At Holyrood House on 30 July 1618 James VI & I confirmed Sir George Forrester of Corstorphine in the lands and barony of Corstorphine. George had already had some land disjoined from the barony of Corstorphine which he had sold. On 22 July 1633 he was created Lord Forrester of Corstorphine by Charles I. Having no son to succeed him Lord Forrester resigned most of his properties, including Corstorphine, in favour of James Baillie. Baillie was the eldest son of Major General William Baillie of Lethame, who had married his fourth daughter Johanna around 1649.

Corstorphine doocot - all that remains of Corstorphine Castle, built by the Forresters in the 14th century. It dates from the 16th century.

During the mid-seventeenth century the family seems to have experienced some financial problems which resulted in lands being temporarily out of their control. On 3 August 1663 the lands and Barony of Corstorphine, except for the castle of Corstorphine and the town of Corstorphine, was granted to Sir John Gilmour. Oliver Cromwell had granted Laurence Scott of Bavelaw and his wife Katherine Binning, the lands, Lordship and Barony of Corstorphine, tower, manor-place, mills, mill-lands, parsonage etc., in lieu of the money due by James, Lord Forrester, to Beatrix Ramsay in Corstorphine who had assigned the debt to the said Laurence Scott, 1654. On the 5 August 1664 the lands, Lordship and Barony of Corstorphine formerly belonging to James, Lord Forrester, and his brother German William Baillie which had been taken in lieu of debt, were granted to Florentius Gardner, baillie of Grangepans. (Similarly lands in Stirlingshire owned by Lord Forrester were taken to pay his debts to Richard Murray and Margaret Gairdner, in 1655.)

On 10 May 1666, land was similarly granted to John Boyd, merchant burgess of Edinburgh. A number of similar land grants also happened during this time. However, the family seems to have sorted out their financial problems as the lands were back in the hands of the Forresters within a short period.

James Baillie's first wife Johanna died early. He then married Janet Ruthven, daughter of the Earl of Forth. This latest Lord Forrester was a man of dubious morals and seduced his niece, the wife of an Edinburgh burgess James Nimmo. She, however, later quarrelled with Forrester and stabbed him to death in his garden at Corstorphine on 26 August 1679. Mrs. Nimmo was later executed at the Cross of Edinburgh for the murder. The titles then fell to William, the son of his brother William Baillie and his wife Lillias, daughter of the first Lord Forrester.

William the fourth, as Lord Forrester, married Margaret, daughter of Sir Andrew Birnie, a Judge of the Court of Session. They had several children including George who succeeded to the title on the death of his father in 1705. During this period, in 1698, the estate of Corstorphine was sold to Hugh Wallace of Ingliston, a Writer to the Signet. He later, in 1713, sold it to Sir James Dick of Prestonfield, in whose family it remained until 1869. (The Dicks were a prominent family of lawyers and merchants in Edinburgh. Sir James Dick (1643–1728) was a merchant and baillie of Edinburgh and also served as Dean of Guild and later Lord Provost.)

The Register of the Great Seal records the transfer of the lands and Barony of Corstorphine to Sir James on 2 June 1713. On 17 May 1729 Dame Janet Dick, wife of Sir William Cunningham of Caprington, was served heir to her father Sir James Dick. On her death she was succeeded by Sir Alexander Dick of Prestonfield, who in 1754 was served heir to his grandfather Sir James Dick of Prestonfield. Sir Alexander died on 10 November 1785 and was succeeded in the baronies of Corstorphine and Prestonfield by his son Sir William Dick.

On the death of Sir William in 1796 the said baronies passed to his brother Sir John Dick, and in 1812 on his death they passed to his brother Sir Robert Keith Dick. In 1869 the barony of Corstorphine was sold to a John Dickson, then residing at Saughton Mains, which was confirmed on 4 May 1871. The barony remained with the Dickson family, who were for the most part Edinburgh lawyers, until 1986 when the last remaining interests in the barony, for by this time almost all of the land had been sold, was given to The Corstorphine Trust. Title passed from The Corstorphine Trust to the present and 34th Baron of Corstorphine, Michael John Milne in November 2005. The title was recorded in the Scottish Barony Register on 21 December 2005.

Sport

There are two rugby clubs based in Corstophine: Royal High Corstorphine RFC and Forrester RFC.

There are also a number of football grounds in the area, and a tennis centre at St.Margaret's Park.

RH Corstorphine Cricket Club play home games at the Royal High School in Davidson's Mains.

Henry Stevenson, Scottish international cricketer and rugby player died in Corstorphine.

References

1. ^ National Archives of Scotland: Reference C2/R. v. 49.
2. ^ http://www.cityofliterature.com/ecol.aspx?sec=3&pid=11 Edinburgh Makar

External links

• National Archives of Scotland (NAS) Website
• The Corstorphine Trust
• Corstorphine Round Table
• RH Corstorphine cricket club
• The Barony of Corstorphine
• Corstorphine Parish Church: [1], [2], and [3]

Coordinates: 55°56′34.51″N 3°17′7.59″W / 55.9429194°N 3.2854417°W / 55.9429194; -3.2854417