Pilton, Edinburgh

Pilton is a residential area of northern Edinburgh, Scotland. It is to the north of Ferry Road, immediately east of Muirhouse, and to the west and south of Granton (the Boswall, Royston Mains and Wardieburn neighbourhoods).

1. Description

Sometimes considered to be part of the larger neighbouring area of Granton, Pilton consists of two housing schemes - West Pilton and East Pilton. These neighbourhoods, particularly West Pilton, are regarded as among the most economically deprived areas in Edinburgh and suffer from high crime rates and anti-social behaviour especially young joyriders stealing powerful motorbikes and cars, or otherwise damaging vehicles. Most of West Pilton was social housing constructed by the council between the 1930s and 1950s (with a hiatus during the Second World War) but now these properties are largely privately owned. The housing mostly takes the form of maisonettes and three storey blocks of flats. There are also two 1960s ten-storey tower blocks (Inchcolm Court and Inchgarvie Court) and one with 16 storeys (Northview Court). In addition, new housing developments have been built by the private sector and the area is currently undergoing revitalisation. There are local shops and community services. Built on the lands of East Pilton Farm in the 1930s by Glasgow-based builder Mactaggart & Mickel to a street layout by the Edinburgh City Architect Ebenezer James MacRae, the streets of East Pilton mainly take various names beginning Crewe or Pilton. The original estate comprises mostly four-in-a-block flatted villas similar to those by the same builder at Carrick Knowe, Colinton Mains and elsewhere in the city as well as in several districts of Glasgow. Streets in a new development on the site of the demolished Bruce Peebles & Co. Ltd. engineering works (destroyed by fire in 1999) take the East Pilton Farm name.

1. Sport

Spartans F.C. are based in the area, playing off Pilton Drive at Ainslie Park since 2008; a public leisure centre of the same name is immediately adjacent to the ground. Their previous home City Park was two blocks to the south-east – housing now occupies the site.

1. Demographics


1. References


1. External links

Media related to Pilton, Edinburgh at Wikimedia Commons

Nearby Places View Menu

Ainslie Park High School

Ainslie Park High School was a state secondary school in East Pilton, Edinburgh, Scotland. The building was deemed surplus to requirements and in the 2000s it was converted into housing with the facade retained.

School

Ainslie Park

Ainslie Park, also known as the Vanloq Community Stadium due to sponsorship, is a football stadium located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League Two club Spartans and the club's women's team in the Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL). In addition, Edinburgh City shared the ground between 2017 and 2022 during the redevelopment of Meadowbank Stadium, and Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale also played there during the 2021–22 season. Another SWPL team, Hibernian, also previously played there from 2016 to 2021.

Rugby Soccer

Selex ES

Selex ES was a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, active in the electronics and information technology business, based in Italy and the UK, and formed in January 2013, following Finmeccanica's decision to combine its existing SELEX Elsag and SELEX Sistemi Integrati businesses into SELEX Galileo, the immediate predecessor of Selex ES. From 1 January 2016, the activities of Selex ES merged into Leonardo-Finmeccanica's Electronics, Defence and Security Systems Sector becoming Leonardo S.p.A. Selex ES's activities had been organised in three Divisions within the sector: Airborne & Space Systems, Land and Naval Defence Electronics and Security and Information Systems.

Industrial Landmark

Crewe Toll

Crewe Toll is an area in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital. The area takes its name from the Toll house which once stood at the junction of Ferry Road and Crewe Road North and South. The name Crewe, or a variation thereof (Creue, Crew or Crou), can be identified on maps as early as those from John Adair's 17th century survey, indicating that a farm stood southeast of the present Crewe Toll. "Toll" is shown on Gellatly's "New Map of the country 12 miles round Edinburgh" published in 1834. The 1853 and 1913 OS maps show a 'smithy' at the junction. All buildings on the junction disappeared when it was enlarged at some point in the 1920s to take the additional traffic from the newly-constructed Telford Road. The Western General Hospital is in the vicinity. Another hospital, the Northern General, was also in the area but this is now the site of a Morrisons supermarket. Edinburgh's Telford College (tertiary) was at Crewe Toll, but has moved to a site at Granton. Fettes College (private, secondary) is close by. A major aerospace facility is situated in the area, the Leonardo S.p.A. facility that dates to a 1943 Ferranti factory originally set up to produce gyro gunsights for the Supermarine Spitfire that later became a major radar development site. The site changed hands repeatedly, from Ferranti to GEC-Ferranti, then GEC-Marconi, then BAE Systems, then SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems, then SELEX Galileo and finally Leonardo. The location was the site of a junction on the Caledonian Railway. This junction was spelled 'Crew' up until closure in the 1960s, long after the spelling 'Crewe' was settled as the area built up. Some nearby Edinburgh districts include Craigleith, Pilton, Inverleith, and Silverknowes.

Hospital Industrial