Currie

Currie (Scottish Gaelic: Currach, IPA:[ˈkʰuːᵲəx]) is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated 7 miles (11 kilometres) south west of the city centre.

Robert the Bruce gave Riccarton as a wedding present in 1315 and in 1392 the land passed to the family of Bishop Wardlaw.

Wider scale development began in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the construction of a private housing estate to the east of Curriehill Road.

The physical topography has ensured that the original historic core to the south of Lanark Road West including the Water of Leith has remained undeveloped.

The earliest record of education in the area is contained in the Minutes of Edinburgh Town Council in 1598, when Baillie Lawrence Henderson was sent to "the toun o Currie to help the gentlemen of the Parish select a Schoolmaister"; however it is not stated where the school was situated.

In 1694, the heritors appointed a Mr Thomson to teach scholars in the Church until Thomas Craig of Riccarton found a place for the building of a school and house for the schoolmaster.

The move has now been completed and the main campus of Heriot-Watt University occupies and manages a wooded area with enough space for future expansion.

Currie and District Local History Society meets 12 times a year and has speakers on all aspects of the area.

[4] A bespoke edition of the “lifestyle and community magazine” Konect is delivered to households in Balerno and neighbouring Currie, Juniper Green, Baberton Mains and Ratho.

Currie is also close to the City of Edinburgh bypass and is bordered by the Union Canal to the north and the Water of Leith to the south.

The parish church lies south of the current main road, amongst a small cluster of buildings which represent the original village.

It was built in a simple rectangular form, with a pediment on its north (entrance) side and a low central spire, in 1784 by James Thompson of Leith.

[7] Below the site of the church close to the Water of Leith is St Mungo's Holy Well with its stone basin and side walls.

Currie Kirk and war memorial
Currie Kirk from rear
Coffin gravestone, 1751, Currie churchyard
The grave of Rev James Dick, Currie churchyard
Edinburgh's Old and New Towns
Edinburgh's Old and New Towns