Niddrie, Edinburgh

This article is about Niddrie, a suburb of Edinburgh. See also: Longniddry, Niddry Castle.'

Niddrie is a suburb of south-east Edinburgh in Scotland. It is south-west of the seaside area of Portobello, and west of Musselburgh in East Lothian near Fort Kinnaird retail park.

Immediately adjacent to the Barony of Craigmillar, and part of Edinburgh City's political ward Craigmillar/Portobello, it was also the home of the Craigmillar Festival Society, a community arts organisation, founded by local mother and "Woman Of Achievement" Helen Crummy.

The place name is believed to be of Brythonic origin, *nuada tref meaning "new settlement".

The Niddrie Mains estate is now almost completely demolished, with no attempts made to recondition the buildings. The land has been mostly designated for private housing. The land that occupied most of the social housing in the community is being regenerated.

The site is currently being developed by PARC, an ALMO or Arms Length Management Organisation, fully owned by the City of Edinburgh Council. The development includes a new primary school for the surrounding area, with the old Niddrie Mill primary school and St Francis primary school joining in a joint campus. The first, though unassociated, phase of redevelopment in the Niddrie Mains area was the Hays area, constructed around 2001 and consisting of two storey blocks with gardens and pedestrianised streets.

Social housing was built in Niddrie Mains by Edinburgh Corporation from 1927 until the mid-1930s, under the designs of City Architect Ebenezer MacRae. The new housing was linked to a major slum clearance scheme in the St. Leonard's Ward of Edinburgh. Families from these cleared areas were housed together with local coal mining families from Niddrie.

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