West Linton is a town and also civil parish in southerly Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the county of Peeblesshire, yet given that city government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. A number of its residents are commuters, owing to the village's distance to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 kilometres) to the north east. West Linton has a lengthy history, and holds a yearly traditional event called the Whipman Play. The town of Linton is of ancient origin. Its name originates from a Celtic element (cognate with the contemporary Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, as well as contemporary Welsh "Llyn") suggesting a lake or pool, a pool in a river, or a channel (as in Loch Linnhe, part of which is called An Linne Dhubh, the black swimming pool, or Dublin, an Anglicisation of dubh and also linn, implying black swimming pool) and the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "racket"), for a fortress, fortified place, or military camp (pertaining to the contemporary English community, using the Saxon "tun", a farm or collection of dwellings), and also is obviously proper, as the village appears to have actually been surrounded by lakes, pools as well as marshes. At one time it was called Lyntoun Roderyck, determined probably with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose area included this location, or with a local chieftain of that name. The Scottish Gaelic variation of the place name is a partial translation, Ruairidh being a Gaelic form of Roderick. The prefix "West" was obtained many centuries later on to clear up the distinction from East Linton in East Lothian.