Niddrie, Edinburgh

The place name is believed to be of Brythonic origin, *nuada tref meaning "new settlement". It was known historically as Niddry Marischal to distinguish it from several other nearby localities: Longniddry and Niddry Bents.

The Wauchope family owned the majority of the area up to the 1930s. Robert Wauchope, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, was born in Niddrie Marischal around 1500. In the 1590s Archibald Wauchope of Niddrie was a supporter of the rebel Earl of Bothwell.[1] The family home Niddrie Marischal House was immediately west of the present-day Jack Kane Centre sports complex in Hunters Hall Park. The Wauchopes eventually donated their lands to the city.

In 1839 John Henderson designed the lodge and gates to the Mansion. The House was demolished although the vaulted tomb-house, which adjoined the western extension, remains as a listed building.[2]

From the mid-19th century the area was developed by the family for coal-mining purposes with several pits being built and a great number of miners cottages were erected.[3]

Social housing was built in Niddrie Mains by Edinburgh Corporation from 1927 until the mid-1930s, under the designs of City Architect, Ebenezer James MacRae. The new housing was linked to a major slum clearance scheme in the St. Leonard's Ward of Edinburgh. Families from these cleared areas were housed together with local coal mining families from Niddrie.

The Niddrie Mains council housing estate is now almost completely demolished, with very few of the buildings surviving. The land has been mostly redesignated for private rather than social housing.

The site is currently being developed by PARC, an ALMO or Arms Length Management Organisation, fully owned by the City of Edinburgh Council. The development includes a new primary school for the surrounding area, with the old Niddrie Mill Primary School and St Francis Primary School being put on a joint campus. The first, though unassociated, phase of redevelopment in the Niddrie Mains area was the Hays area, constructed around 2001 and consisting of two-storey blocks with gardens and pedestrianised streets.

Between the 1980s and 2000s, Niddrie suffered from a high crime rate. Antisocial behaviour is fairly common, though gang fights and knife crime are of a lesser degree today compared to the levels recorded between the 1980s and 2000s. During the 1980s, Niddrie was one of the most drug-riddled communities in Scotland, and still has problems with class A drug use today. For a number of years, the area has had problems with joyriding and youngsters stealing cars and motorbikes.[4] Greendykes and Niddrie Mains was ranked as the fourth-most deprived area in Scotland in the 2006 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation[5]

Niddrie once had its own railway station, on the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. Today the nearest stations are at Brunstane and Newcraighall, both located on Edinburgh Crossrail and Borders Railway.

Lothian Buses provide 8 buses to the area:

2 Hermiston Gait - Broomhouse - Saughton - Gorgie - Haymarket - Grassmarket - Southside - Prestonfield - Niddrie - Asda

• Evening Buses terminate at Broomhouse Roundabout

14 Muirhouse - Granton - Pilton - Ferry Road - Leith - Elm Row - North Bridge - Southside - Prestonfield - Niddrie - Greendykes

21 Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Portobello - Leith - Ferry Road - Silverknowes - Davidsons Mains - Clermiston - Sighthill - Gyle Centre/Clovenstone

30 Queen Margaret University - Fort Kinnaird - Niddrie - Prestonfield - Southside - Princes Street - Longstone - Wester Hailes - Clovenstone

46 Rosewell - Bonnyrigg - Dalkieth - Danderhall - Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird - Stoneybank - Musselburgh

48 Gorebridge - Mayfield - Dalkieth - Danderhall - Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird - Stoneybank - Musselburgh

400 Edinburgh Airport - Gyle Centre - Wetser Hailes - Colinton - Oxgangs - Kaimes - Royal Infirmary - Niddrie - Fort Kinnaird

N30 Westside Plaza - Baberton - Clovenstone - Longstone - Princes Street - Niddrie - Queen Margaret University - Stoneybank - Musselburgh

Immediately adjacent to Craigmillar, and part of Edinburgh City's political ward Craigmillar/Portobello, it was also the home of the Craigmillar Festival Society, a community arts organisation, founded by local mother and "Woman Of Achievement" Helen Crummy.

• Niddrie at Gazetteer for Scotland
• Photos of Niddrie