CRAMOND

Cramond lies at the mouth of the River Almond which flows into the Firth of Forth. With its quaint village atmosphere and attractive waterside setting, Cramond has become a favourite base for people working in Edinburgh. The waterfront is lined with brilliant white cottages, while just offshore is Cramond Island, accessible by causeway at low tide. The Romans built a fort near the river mouth in AD142, and the town was a supply depot for the Antonine Wall. In 1997 a Roman sculpture was unearthed in the harbour mud which has come to be known as the Cramond Lioness because it depicts a bound male prisoner being killed by a lioness. The sculpture was put on display in the Museum of Scotland after restoration, and the boatman who found it received a handsome reward.  Another reminder of Roman times can be found near the mouth of the river in the form of the Cramond Roman Fort.  Half a mile inland from Cramond is a 16th century tower house called Lauriston Castle. To the west of Cramond, Dalmeny House, a Gothic Revival mansion built in 1815, contains works of art by such eminent artists as Gainsborough. In contrast to its Gothic Revival exterior, most of the rooms are in the Regency style, and one of them is devoted to Napoleon with one of Britain’s largest collections of Napoleonic memorabilia. The church in Cramond, the 15th century Cramond Kirk, was another of Oliver Cromwell’s victims: his soldier’s made off with the Kirk’s bell.

Map of the area.

Cramond Harbour. Photo by Steven Harrison, via Wikimedia Commons.