What is "gilmerton"

Gilmerton is a suburb of Edinburgh, about southeast of the city centre.

The toponym "Gilmerton" is derived from a combination of – a personal name and later surname meaning "Servant of [the Virgin] Mary", from which comes the first element, "Gilmer", – and meaning "settlement" or "farmstead". Versions of the name are recorded from the middle of the 12th century.

Gilmerton used to be a coal mining village. Below its centre is a series of shallow linked caves collectively called Gilmerton Cove. Traditionally they were attributed to the work of a local blacksmith, George Paterson, who supposedly completed excavations in 1724 and lived in the caves for several years, although there may be reasons to doubt this.