Gracemount

Coordinates: 55°54′19″N 3°09′27″W / 55.90516°N 3.15739°W / 55.90516; -3.15739
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Gracemount
City of Edinburgh
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townEDINBURGH
Postcode districtEH16
Dialling code0131
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
List of places
UK
Scotland
55°54′19″N 3°09′27″W / 55.90516°N 3.15739°W / 55.90516; -3.15739

Gracemount is a neighbourhood in the south of

Southhouse
to the south.

Description

Although fairly small in territory and population (approximately 2 square miles in area, with three

Community Council.[3]

Gracemount House in 2009
Gracemount Leisure Centre in 2012

The neighbourhood is based around the grounds of the late-18th century Gracemount House,

geriatric medicine along with nearby Ellen's Glen House) and the 1880s Original Industrial School (Guthrie Court).[13][14]

Certain 'data zones' in and around Gracemount are considered to be economically deprived,[15][16] with several within the 'top' 20% under the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation studies in 2012, 2016 and 2020.[17] Original housing is mainly modest terraced houses and three-storey tenements, most still with typical grey pebbledash exteriors dating from the time of their construction. There were also three 14-storey tower blocks[18][19] (built 1962, demolished 2009)[4][20][21] situated just north of the mansion house, with modern houses and apartments filling that gap site and others in the vicinity.[22][23]

Within Gracemount itself, facilities include a refurbished shopping precinct,[24] Catholic church,[4] leisure centre with swimming pool and 5-a-side football pitches (opened 1989)[25][26] NHS medical practice,[27] council services office (covering much of southern and central Edinburgh)[28] and four schools: Kaimes Special School, St Catherine's RC Primary[29] (a feeder for Holy Rood High),[30] Gracemount Primary,[31][32] and Gracemount High School; the eponymous schools are unusual in that the primary has a very large roll (575 in 2019)[16] while the secondary roll is only slightly higher (623 in 2023),[33] with another provision – Liberton High School – less than a mile away. A local handball team, Gracemount Edinburgh Handball Club, trains at the high school having started out at the leisure centre. The district's police station is located to the west of the area at Howdenhall,[34] where a children's residential home was also situated until closed in 2023 following multiple reports of abuse by staff.[35]

The only public transport in the area is the bus, with several Lothian Buses routes running along Captain's Road (B701) to the south of the neighbourhood and on Liberton Road (A701).[36] The latter is one of the main road arteries between the city centre and the Edinburgh City Bypass (A720), the junction for which at Straiton (on the boundary with Midlothian) is less than a mile from Gracemount to the south.

References

  1. ^ a b Electoral Ward: Liberton/Gilmerton, Scottish Government Statistics
  2. ^ Scotland | OS 1:1,250/1:2,500, 1944-1973, Explore Georeferenced Maps (National Library of Scotland)
  3. ^ Our area/dates, Liberton and District Community Council
  4. ^ a b c Gracemount, Gazetteer for Scotland
  5. ^ Gracemount off Lasswade Road (LB28076), Historic Environment Scotland
  6. ^ History of the Mansion, Gracemount Mansion Development Trust
  7. ^ St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  8. ^ Balm Well, St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  9. ^ St Catherine's Well, Gazetteer for Scotland
  10. ^ Inside abandoned old Edinburgh hotel set to be demolished for student flats, Edinburgh Live, 27 March 2023
  11. ^ Northfield House demolished following fires, The Edinburgh Reporter, 16 August 2023
  12. ^ Poor Clare's Convent, 105-109 Lasswade Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  13. ^ Original Industrial School for Boys (Dr Guthrie's), Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, Children's Homes
  14. ^ Guthrie Court, 10 Lasswade Road, Edinburgh, British Listed Buildings
  15. ^ Gracemount, 20schemes
  16. ^ a b Summarised inspection findings | Gracemount Primary School and Nursery Class, Education Scotland, 17 September 2019
  17. ^ S01008557 Gracemount, Southhouse and Burdiehouse (part), Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020
  18. ^ Gracemount, Tower Block (University of Edinburgh)
  19. ^ Edinburgh, Gracemount, General, Canmore
  20. ^ Liberton and Gracemount, EdinPhoto
  21. ^ High-rise tower blocks demolished, Times of Malta, 26 October 2009
  22. ^ Edinburgh builds first council homes in 20 years, Construction Enquirer, 29 April 2010
  23. ^ Gracemount Housing, Smith Scott Mullan Associates
  24. ^ Gracemount Civic Square, Maxi Construction Ltd
  25. ^ Gracemount Leisure Centre, Edinburgh Leisure
  26. ^ Gracemount Leisure Centre, Gazetteer for Scotland
  27. ^ Gracemount Medical Practice, NHS Scotland
  28. ^ South East locality, City of Edinburgh Council
  29. ^ About Our School, St Catherine's Primary School
  30. ^ Roman Catholic primary school catchment areas, City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  31. ^ About Us, Gracemount Primary School
  32. ^ Non-denominational primary school catchment areas, City of Edinburgh Council. Retrieved 11 January 2024
  33. ^ About Us, Gracemount High School
  34. ^ Howdenhall Police Station, Police Scotland
  35. ^ Children's secure unit closed permanently Edinburgh after string of failures, The Edinburgh Reporter, 7 September 2023
  36. ^ Network Map including Edinburgh Trams, Lothian Buses. Retrieved 11 January 2024

External links