Wardie

A suburb of Edinburgh City, Wardie lies between Inverleith and Granton, with its original core located a quarter-mile (0.5 km) southeast of Granton Harbour and 2 miles (3 km) to the north of the city centre. It takes its name from the Anglian wearda or Old Norse varthi meaning beacon or cairn, most likely relating to a signal station on Wardie Brow. The steep slope which parallels the shore of the Firth of Forth, connecting Granton, Wardie, Trinity and Newhaven represents a raised beach. The former Wardie Muir extended from Inverleith as far as the river. Wardie House on Boswall Road contains parts of the original 15th or 16th C. Wardie Castle. Challenger Lodge (c.1830) was home to Sir John Murray (1841 - 1914 ) and takes its name from his Challenger Expedition of 1872-76. This became St. Columba's Hospice in 1977, which was rebuilt and extended 2012-14. The Neo-Classical Boswall House dates from 1815 and much later was home to Sir Donald Pollock (1868 - 1962), a generous benefactor to the University of Edinburgh. Author and literary critic Prof. John Wilson (or Christopher North; 1785 - 1854) also lived for a time on Boswall Road. Boswall Road took its name from the owners of the former Wardie Estate, and this naming scheme continued as the district spread westwards as a garden suburb in the 1920s (Boswall Avenue, Crescent, Drive, Gardens, Loan, Parkway, Place, Quadrant, Square and Terrace), together with Grierson Avenue, Crescent, Gardens, Road, Square and Villas, all named after Sir Andrew Grierson who served as Town Clerk for Edinburgh between 1918 and 1934.


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