Stockbridge, Edinburgh — Area Guide & Where to Stay

What are the main landmarks in Stockbridge?

Stockbridge keeps its landmarks small and local. Along the Water of Leith stands St Bernard's Well, a circular pump-house of 1789 that shelters a statue of Hygieia, goddess of health. At the top of St Vincent Street rises St Stephen's Church, William Playfair's tall-towered kirk of the 1820s that closes the view down from the New Town.

North of the river lie the Stockbridge Colonies, rows of Victorian artisan cottages along Glenogle Road, and the Georgian sweep of Ann Street ranks among the city's finest streets. The Royal Botanic Garden, just over the boundary in Inverleith, is the largest draw within easy reach.

What is the history of Stockbridge?

Stockbridge began as a milling hamlet at a wooden crossing of the Water of Leith, the timber bridge that gave the area its name. Mills and tanneries worked the riverbanks. Fashionable building came in the early nineteenth century, when the painter Sir Henry Raeburn developed the Deanhaugh and St Bernard's lands into Ann Street and its neighbours, naming Ann Street for his wife.

From 1861 the Edinburgh Co-operative Building Company raised the Stockbridge Colonies, rows of stone cottages built to give tradesmen decent homes. The old village was drawn into the growing city but kept its own street pattern and name.

Where is Stockbridge?

Stockbridge lies north-west of the city centre, downhill from the New Town by way of Howe Street and St Vincent Street. The Water of Leith runs through it. A crossing at the old Stockbridge gave the area its name, and just to the north-east are Inverleith and the Royal Botanic Garden. Dean Village sits upstream to the west along the Water of Leith Walkway, while Comely Bank edges the district to the north.