Bruntsfield Rugby Club heading to London to see Scotland play at Twickenham in March 1963.placeholder image
Bruntsfield Rugby Club heading to London to see Scotland play at Twickenham in March 1963. | TSPL

Bruntsfield Heritage in Pictures: Here are 35 fascinating photos of the Edinburgh neighbourhood in the 1950s and 60s

From long-forgotten shops to glitzy parties - this area of Edinburgh looked very different over 55 years ago.

Long considered one of the the most in-demand places to live in Scotland’s Capital, Bruntsfield offers a mix of high-quality tenements and Victorian villas - all with with easy access to some of the city’s best restaurants bars and independent shops.

Centred around Bruntsfield Place, just over a mile from the city centre, the area is named after Richard Broun, the King's Sergeant of the Borough Muir, who collected rents for Robert II in the 14th century.

The area of land known as ‘Broun's Field’ was given to the de Lawdre family who created a small estate in the late 14th century.

Their descendents, by this time known as the Lauders, continued to hold the Grange part of the estate to the south, while the Bruntsfield area was sold to the Warrander family in 1965.

It was Sir George Warrander who started to feu parts of the estate for housing in 1869, leading to the creation of the Bruntsfield of today.

Bruntsfield Manor, now known as Bruntsfield House, was the dower house (the residence used by a widow) for each successive bride of the Lauder family for over 200 years.

It was taken into council ownership in the 1970s and is now used by James Gillespie’s High School as an administration block.

Bruntsfield Links was once of the first places where golf was played in the Edinburgh area – with records of the sport take place there dating back to the 15th century – and it is still home to a pitch and putt course.

The Golf Tavern that overlooks the course is one of the oldest pubs in Scotland, and is just one of many much-loved bars, cafes, restaurants and independent shops in and around Bruntsfield Place today.

Here are 35 pictures to take you back to the Bruntsfield of the 1950s and 1960s.

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