All About Edinburgh
DUDDINGSTON VILLAGE
EDINBURGH
HISTORY & ATTRACTIONS
DUDDINGSTON LOCH at Dodin’s Village
(Duddingston Village) dates back to the 1100s and replaced Treverlen the name of the land owners of the area. The name Duddingston is said to come from the Norman Knight Dodin de Dodinestun who settled in the area. An earlier Bronze Age settlement / lake village may lay buried beyond the car park next to the gate. Duddingston Loch is a nature reserve with swans, geese,ducks and otters. It was previously used for ice skating curling and boating. There is a famous painting by Sir Henry Raeburn of a minister ice skating on the Duddingston Loch.
SHEEP HEID INN
The Causway, Duddingston Village known originally as Dodin Village. It is said that a drinking house has
been on the site since the 1300s and Bonnie Prince Charlie may have drank here before the Battle of Prestonpans in 1745.
There is no definite proof of how old the pub is or how it got its name but Royalty played skittles in the back yard and a
bowling alley was built in 1870. A club founded in 1882 still exists and plays once a week. A gift given to the landlord in
1580 by King James VI was a rams head snuff box, which is now in Dalmeny House and a copy is behind the bar.
The village was known for the slaughter of sheep and the use of the heads for soup (powsowadie) a local broth.
THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Camped around Dunsapie Loch on Arthur Seat the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie awaited instructions from the war council being held in the house pictured below in Duddingston Village on the night of the
19 September 1745 before the Battle of Prestonpans took place. The Battle at Prestonpans was an monumental victory for the Jacobite army over the English army of red coats. The Jacobite army lead by Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart) went on to battle their way as far as Derby, before turning back with the might of the English army in chase. After 7 months of battles, the end came in just 20 minutes at the battle of Culloden where the English wiped out the Jacobite's and ended the Stuarts regaining the throne, Bonnie Prince Charlie fled to Skye and then into Europe.
Duddingston Loch a wildlife sanctuary.
The plaque with the quote by John Thomson one time minister of Duddingston Kirk, ‘We’re all Jock Tamson’s bairns’, (Meaning) We are all the same. Duddingston Village full of history and an easy way up Arthur Seat. With steps that take you halfway and a gentle slope the remainder of the way to the top. Midpoint a bench for a rest and Dunsapie Loch with a view of East Lothian.
UNDER THE SEAT BESIDE THE WATER MAKES A HOME FOR A' JOCK TAMSON'S BAIRNS
The Loupin on stane is found outside many churches in Scotland as it was a way for gentlemen to get on their horses.
The Jougs is a neck brace which would be put around the criminal's neck while passers by would throw rotten food at whoever was in the jougs
Duddingston Kirk is a Norman style Church overlooking Duddingston Loch built in the early 1100s and is one of the oldest churches still in use in the East of Scotland.
Duddingston War Memorial
Duddingston War Memorial. The Celtic Cross was erected in 1921
in memory of those who fell in the First World War.
Arthur Seat
(Easy Way Up)
Duddingston Village
There is a car park just inside the gates of the Queen's Park at the foot of Arthur Seat. A stairway with about 400 steps will take you half way, where a road is then its a grass slop to the top.