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Origins of the Tynecastle name?


Ashley72

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Nice distraction from the game.

 

My mate from New Zealand has been questioning me on the origins of the name of the former fortress Tynecastle. Anybody have any info?

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Alba gu Brath

I heard it was Gaelic 'Taigh a' Chaisteil' - possibly a reference to the auld Gorgie house. Dalry is Gaelic too - Dail an Righ - Kings' Meadow. Not sure about Gorgie though, though Ardmillan is another Gaelic one.

 

Alba gu Brath.

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jambos are go!

Tried hard to find this out without success years ago. IIRC a Tyne is a gate or toll gate and there was something like at around the Gorgie Farm/ Graveyard area. No sign of a castle though.

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I heard it was Gaelic 'Taigh a' Chaisteil' - possibly a reference to the auld Gorgie house. Dalry is Gaelic too - Dail an Righ - Kings' Meadow. Not sure about Gorgie though, though Ardmillan is another Gaelic one.

 

Alba gu Brath.

 

According to Wikipedia (so could be tosh, but sounds reasonable enough):

 

" The name is thought to be Brythonic in origin. Early forms suggest it derives from gor gyn ? upper wedge ? which may refer to the tapering shape of the land between the Water of Leith and the Craiglockhart hills.

 

The Brythonic languages which have survived to the present day are Welsh, Breton and Cornish.

 

The territory of the Picts was bounded on the south-east by the Votadini (later called the Gododdin), a Brythonic tribe whose territory included an area around Stirling and the lands south of the River Forth / Firth of Forth. "

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Thig Ar Latha
Thanks for the reply. What is the 'auld gorgie house' you refer to?

 

I think there was a farm that went by the name Tynecastle on or about the site of the current Tynecastle before the area was developed in the second half of the 1800's, though I'm not sure about the orinins of the word.

 

#2 could be close though.

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We had a thread on this beforehand and I did a bit of research

 

"Tyne" is derived from an ancient Brythonic word for River.

 

It survives in the names of the River Tyne that runs through Newcastle, The slightly less famous one that runs through Haddington, The Teign in Devon and, in a slightly different form, the Thames in South East England and the Teme in Wales.

 

So the Tyne might be a reference to the nearby water of Leith

 

Alternatively There are several Castles on the Lothian river Tyne

 

Two in particular Oxenford Castle South East of Dalkeith and Hailes Castle near East Linton are associated with the Dalrymple family who along with the neighbourhood of tale their name from Dalry, North Ayrshire

 

I have a theory that they may have been big landowners in Gorgie and that "Tynecastle" refers to their home. But that might be rubbish

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It comes from the gaelic - further up thread - the toll near the castle. the castle is edinburgh castle, which is just a few miles away and must have looked like a seventh wonder of the world when there were medeival toll gates in Gorgie.

 

i found a reference once :-)

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We had a thread on this beforehand and I did a bit of research

 

"Tyne" is derived from an ancient Brythonic word for River.

 

It survives in the names of the River Tyne that runs through Newcastle, The slightly less famous one that runs through Haddington, The Teign in Devon and, in a slightly different form, the Thames in South East England and the Teme in Wales.

 

So the Tyne might be a reference to the nearby water of Leith

 

Alternatively There are several Castles on the Lothian river Tyne

 

Two in particular Oxenford Castle South East of Dalkeith and Hailes Castle near East Linton are associated with the Dalrymple family who along with the neighbourhood of tale their name from Dalry, North Ayrshire

 

I have a theory that they may have been big landowners in Gorgie and that "Tynecastle" refers to their home. But that might be rubbish

 

If your theory about the Water of Leith is correct, two possible candidates nearer to home are the old ruin next to the Napier Annexe, below Wester Craiglockhart Hill, and the still-standing old house at Chesser: on the left-hand side going out of town, just over the Water of Leith and just before the petrol station and Saughton Prison.

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