Comely Bank

History

The ground was originally part of Sir William Fettes' estate. The original development was a terrace of Georgian town-houses built to face the main east-west road leading to Stockbridge. This was designed by Thomas Brown (architect) in 1817 and still stands today.

The Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle lived in Comely Bank Road between 1819 and 1821 before achieving literary success. At that time, the terrace at the western end of the road was the last row of houses in Edinburgh before the village of Blackhall.

Although there was a burst of tenemental construction in the late 19th century, due to other more prestiguous developments around the city the area was not fully built out until the 1930s.

Notable Buildings

Famous Residents

(taken from Grants Old and New Edinburgh)

Comely Bank Cemetery

The cemetery was begun in 1896 and laid out by George Washington Browne.

The cemetery has lost its original southern entrance and its ornate gate piers now lead only into a modern housing estate. It is now only accessible from its north-east corner, on Crewe Road. There has been much vandalism in the cemetery.

It is notable largely due to an abnormally high number of war graves, due to its juxtaposition to two of the city's hospitals in WW2. This includes Britain's youngest in-service death: Reginald Earnshaw only 14 years old.

There are relatively few graves of note:-