Bruntsfield Links

Bruntsfield Links is a 14-hectare open park in south-west Edinburgh, the last patch of the old Burgh Muir woodland cleared by royal decree in 1508. It lies just south-west of the Meadows, on ground that has never held water like its neighbour once did. The area once supplied timber for the Lawnmarket’s timber-fronted houses and forestairs. Today it remains a dry, grassy space where sandstone was later quarried in the 17th century. The Links are one of Scotland’s earliest golf sites, mentioned in a 1695 council act that set aside space for quarries while protecting the golfing green. The Golf Tavern on its western edge claims a 1456 date, though written proof is lacking. By the 18th century the area was Edinburgh’s ‘city quarry’, yet the quarries’ mounds doubled as bunkers for golfers. In 1752 a pamphlet warned that further building would harm residents’ health and recreation, and in 1791 the Burgess Golfing Society blocked a road that would have cut across their course. Visitors find a 36-hole short-hole golf course still in play, run by the Bruntsfield Short Hole Golf Club. Dog-walkers, croquet players and children on sledges share the space in season. A footpath and cycle lane link to Middle Meadow Walk, while the Golf Tavern pub overlooks the turf. Surviving elms include rare Exeter and Huntingdon varieties, reminders of the woodland that once stood here.