Hailes, an estate, with a mansion, a village, and a great quarry, on the NW border of Colinton parish, Edinburghshire. In 1104 Edelrad, Earl of Fife, bequeathed the lands of Hailes to the Church of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline; and the abbot and monks of Dunfermline retained the superiority of Easter Hailes down to the Reformation. St Cuthbert's Church, however, of Hailes or Colinton, was soon transferred to Holyrood Abbey, and later, in 1445, to the Knight Templars' Hospital of St Anthony at Leith. Hailes House, above the left bank of the Water of Leith, 1 mile SW of Slateford, and ¾ NW of Colinton village, is thought by some persons to occupy the site of the ancient church, and is the property of the Rev. Sir WGibson-Carmichael, Bart. of Castle-Craig. Hailes village, 3 furlongs N by W, stands close to Kingsknowe station on the Caledonian, and to the N bank of the Union canal. The quarry, near it, consists of dark grey sandstone, of slaty conformation, easily divisible into blocks for steps and paving flags. During the great building period in Edinburgh, from 1820 to 1826, it yielded no fewer than 600 cart-loads of building stone daily, and brought its landlord £9000 a year; but since it has seldom got demand for more than 60 to 70 cart-loads a day.—Ord. Sur., sh. 32, 1857.

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