Craigentinny

Craigentinny (Scottish Gaelic: Creag an t-Sionnaich) is a suburb in the east of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the city, east of Restalrig and close to Portobello.

Its name is a corruption of the Scottish Gaelic Creag an t-Sionnaich meaning "Foxrock" or Creag an teine meaning "Fire Crag".

History

Previously moorland, the first major house was built in the 1604. This house, Craigentinny Castle (later renamed Craigentinny House), gives its name to the wider area. It was built by James Nisbet of the Nisbet family associated more strongly with the Dean area of the city, as the occupants of Dean House. The land was bought from the Logan family of Restalrig. It was bought around 1760 by William Miller, son of Thomas Miller, Lord Glenlee. In 1849/50 it was remodelled by David Rhind for Christie Miller, William Miller's great nephew (who gives his name to Christiemiller Avenue).

The lands were previously under the feudal control of Leith rather than Edinburgh. When Edinburgh took over Leith in 1920 its main objective was not Leith itself, but the large swathes of land which Leith controlled, such as Craigentinny and Boswell. This acquisition allowed Edinburgh to expand northwards rather than southwards. However, the land which would have served Leith for centuries of expansion was squandered in environmental terms. In a period of only 20 years much of the area was covered with low density bungalows. Elsewhere, in 1932 the Council developed the area with 520 houses and a block of six shops, designed with higher density tenements by Ebenezer James MacRae and his team.