Craiglockhart, a wooded basaltic hill in Colinton parish, Midlothian, ½ mile ESE of Slateford, and 2¼ miles SW by W of Edinburgh. Attaining a height of 550 feet above sea-level, it commands a wide westward view, away to the frontier Grampians; at its base is a skating-pond, formed in 1873 by Mr Cox of the Edinburgh Gymnasium. It got its name from the neighbouring square tower or keep, built by an ancestor of the Lockharts of Lee about the middle of the 13th century, and now represented by only the basement arched story; and in turn it has given name to a mansion, a poorhouse, an Established mission church, and a hydropathic establishment, in its vicinity. The mansion, built about 1823, stands between the hill and Slateford, on the verge of a wooded bank, sloping down to the Water of Leith. The Edinburgh Poorhouse, at the back or SE of the hill, was built in 1869, and, as enlarged in 1878, has accommodation for 827 inmates. The church, an iron one, opened in 1880, is near the old tower, as this again is near the hydropathic establishment, which occupies a commanding site to the SW of the hill, and which, designed by Messrs Peddie & Kinnear, was erected during 1878-80, being a plain but dignified edifice, rustic Italian in style, with central tower, slightly projecting wings, and accommodation for 200 visitors.

(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)