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Duddingston is an affluent, historic village in the east of Edinburgh, Scotland, next to Holyrood Park.It is a conservation area, not to be confused with the rest of Duddingston, which stretches down towards Portobello.
Duddingston Village boasts stunning period property, many of which are listed. In addition to fine period homes, it houses many points of interest including Dr Neil’s Garden, The Sheepsheid and Duddingston Kirk.
Nestled under Arthur’s Seat, the tranquil village of Duddingston is highly sought after by period property lovers and is a popular tourist destination.
This land grant included the settlement known by the name of Treverlen or Traverlin, in the western part of it; this being the oldest known name of the village and estates that eventually became known as Duddingston. There are several possibilities for the etymology of "Treverlen":
All these names originate in the Celtic Brythonic languages, which pre-date the use of the Scottish Gaelic or Old English tongues in Scotland, suggesting that they may go back to the time of some of the earliest settlements on Arthur's Seat. The last two names, in particular, fit well as a possible name for the Celtic crannog settlement which stood in the southernmost corner of Duddingston Loch.
The last Celtic owner of the Treverlen estates is said to have been Uviet the White who owned it from at least 1090 onwards.Old Edinburgh Club, Article, 1959, G. W. S. Barrow By 1128, though, at the founding of Holyrood Abbey, the lands of Arthur's Seat seem to have become divided between the Royal Demesne and the estates of Treverlen belonging to Uviet the White.RCHAMS CANMORE NMRS, MS/726/96 (49-50, no. 103). For confirmation of what passed in 1128 at the forming of Holyrood Abbey and the passing of the lands to Kelso Abbey, we can look to the later "Charter of Confirmation, Granted to the Monks of Kelso of King Malcolm IV". Malcolm IV of Scotland inherited the throne from his grandfather David I of Scotland, and was perhaps called upon to confirm many such gifts of land in case of later disputes. This he did, in the above-mentioned charter, confirming the previously given entitlement of
Traverlin, with its due bounds, as Vineth fully and freely possessed and enjoyed it, with all the easements of the adjoining strother (march), which is called Cameri; and the Crag of the same villageThe Monastic Annals of Teviotdale. 1832. By the REV. James Morton, B.D. p156-158 translated from the Chartulary of Kelso, fol. 9, r.
to Kelso Abbey. Malcolm goes on to state that in his grandfather's time Alfwyn (perhaps the saxonised form of Uviet, or one of his descendants), Abbot of Halyrude (Holyrood Abbey) and Ernald, Abbot of Kelso, came to an agreement concerning a dispute between them over The Crag, which allowed for the lands of The Crag and Traverlin to pass to the church of Kelso, in exchange for the ten-pounds-lands they had in "Hardiggasthorn, near Northamtun".
The name was superseded during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries by "Dodinestun" from "Dodin’s Estate".Barrow, G. W. S. 1959. ‘Treverlen, Duddingston and Arthur’s Seat’, Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, 30: 1–9. This name change came about just after the lands and estates were given to Kelso Abbey by David I. The Abbey quickly feued the estate to one Dodin de Berwic, evidently, from his name, an Anglo-Normans knight. Apparently, then, it was Dodin who changed the name of the settlement, as by 1150 he was referring to himself as "Dodin of Dodinestoun". (Dodin's toun or farm place).Stuart Harris "The Place Names of Edinburgh". 1996. p.243 This last may be slightly misleading, though, as there was a toft (a homestead with attached arable land) near Berwick-Upon-Tweed, also referred to as Dodin's Town, with which he is quite likely to have had connections.The Monastic Annals of Teviotdale. 1832. By the Rev. James Morton, B.D. p125 However, it seems likely that the names are connected through branches of the same Norman family. Thereafter the village is often, though not always, referred to as Duddingston, with quite a wide range of spellings. For instance, from heraldic sources we are told that in May 1290 Edward I granted a protection against proceedings for debts to William de Dodingstone, burgess of Edinburgh. Also, with quite a different spelling, but six years later, we are told the name is that of a locality near Edinburgh, and Eleyne de Duddynggeston, of that county, swore fealty to Edward I.Scottish Arms VOL I (1881): Being a collection of armorial bearings A.D. 1370-1678 (Reproduced in Facsimile from Contemporary Manuscripts) with heraldic and genealogical notes by R. R. Stodart [1]
The kirk which was built on the newly gifted lands went by the name Duddingston Kirk, but the name Treverlen still survived into the next century as the parish name, being confirmed as such in a list of 13 parishes belonging to Kelso in 1200, which leads one to suspect there had been a kirk on the site previously. The name has now been given to the new park built on the site of the former Portobello High School and St John's Primary School.
Duddingston Loch has been used for ice-skating and curling, even boasting a curling house, for several centuries. In the 17th and 18th century the village was primarily a centre for the coal and salt mining industry, but was also known for its weaving industry, in particular for a cloth known as Duddingston Hardings. Bonnie Prince Charlie held a council of war in a house ("then thatched now tiled") in the village, shortly before the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745. In the same year, James Hamilton, 8th Earl of Abercorn purchased the Duddingston Estate from the Duke of Argyll. Lord Abercorn commissioned the architect Sir William Chambers to design Duddingston House in the Palladian style, and this was completed by 1768.
The loch provided the setting for Henry Raeburn's painting of The Skating Minister, painted in the 1790s, as well as the less famous but very atmospheric painting by Charles Lees called Skaters on Duddingston Loch by Moonlight.
Dr. James Tytler (1745–1804), author, balloonist and encyclopedist, lived in Duddingston. Robert Burns knew him, describing him as a mortal who wandered the precincts of Edinburgh in leaky shoes, a sky-lighted hat and unlikely breeches, who yet was responsible for at least three quarters of Elliot's Encyclopædia Britannica. In 1774 he was living on the Holyrood Abbey "sanctuary lands" to avoid his creditors. After his wife left him and their children in 1775, he was known thereafter to be co-habiting with at least one, if not two women, one of them a Duddingston washerwoman. This circumstance eventually led to his flight from Scottish justice for the crime of bigamy in 1788, when he left Duddingston, and both women, to remove himself to Berwick. Whilst living in Duddingston he did build a printing press, and turned out further copies of the encyclopedia, and other more successful publications, but he was a poor businessman and never seemed to benefit from these and other successes. Sadly, even his attempt at ballooning in 1784 was something of a debacle. He was finally able to rise to a height of and descend again, which qualified him as Britain's first balloonist, but his success at the time was overshadowed by other more popular balloonists.
The former Home House in Old Church Lane was built in 1820 and is a category B Listed building that was formerly a children's home for Church of Scotland missionary children.
Between 1998 and 2016 Duddingston Kirk Gardens, and sometimes the kirk itself, were used as an Edinburgh Festival Fringe venue by Theatre Alba, the theatre company founded by Charles Nowosielski and Richard Cherns. Its first production there was a revival of Netta B. Reid's A Shepherd Beguiled, which was performed again there in 2016. The Quest for Excalibur / The Shepherd Beguiled theatre programme, Theatre Alba, August 2016 In 2002, the company introduced work for children under the direction of Clunie Mackenzie and Keith Hutcheon. The Fairy Queen / A Man for All Seasons / The Ootlaw theatre programme, Theatre Alba, August 2002 Between 2003 and 2018, Nowosielski produced four Passion Play, which were performed on Easter Sundays at locations around the village. Obituary: Charles Nowosielski, visionary director behind Theatre Alba, The Scotsman, 3rd June 2020 Duddingston Kirk Passion Play, 1st April 2018, Passion Plays website
Since 1923, the loch has been a wildlife reserve, managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. It contains a variety of wildfowl and . The loch is part of Holyrood Park which is owned by the Scottish Ministers. The Scottish Wildlife Trust purchased the adjacent land at Bawsinch in 1971 and expanded the bird sanctuary into this area.
Dr Neil's Garden is located between Duddingston Kirk and the Loch. Doctors Andrew and Nancy Neil were awarded the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother Medal by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society
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