West Linton is a village as well as civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was previously in the region of Peeblesshire, however since local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is currently part of Scottish Borders. Many of its residents are travelers, owing to the village's proximity to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 kilometres) to the north east. West Linton has a long background, and also holds a yearly traditional celebration called the Whipman Play. The town of Linton is of ancient beginning. Its name stems from a Celtic component (cognate with the contemporary Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, and also modern Welsh "Llyn") suggesting a lake or pool, a pool in a river, or a network (as in Loch Linnhe, part of which is called An Linne Dhubh, the black pool, or Dublin, an Anglicisation of dubh and linn, meaning black swimming pool) and also the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "racket"), for a citadel, strengthened area, or army camp (related to the modern English town, by way of the Saxon "tun", a ranch or collection of dwellings), and also is obviously ideal, as the town shows up to have actually been bordered by lakes, swimming pools and marshes. At once it was referred to as Lyntoun Roderyck, identified maybe with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose territory included this area, or with a regional chieftain of that name. The Scottish Gaelic variation of the place name is a partial translation, Ruairidh being a Gaelic type of Roderick. The prefix "West" was acquired many centuries later on to make clear the distinction from East Linton in East Lothian.