West Linton
West Linton is a village as well as civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the region of Peeblesshire, yet considering that local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. Many of its residents are travelers, owing to the village's distance to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 km) to the north east. West Linton has a lengthy background, and holds an annual traditional celebration called the Whipman Play. The village of Linton is of ancient beginning. Its name derives from a Celtic component (cognate with the modern-day Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, as well as 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, suggesting black swimming pool) and the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "hubbub"), for a fortress, fortified place, or army camp (related to the modern English community, by way of the Saxon "tun", a ranch or collection of homes), as well as is evidently proper, as the town appears to have actually been surrounded by lakes, swimming pools and marshes. At once it was referred to as Lyntoun Roderyck, identified perhaps with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose area included this area, or with a regional chieftain of that name. The Scottish Gaelic version of the place name is a partial translation, Ruairidh being a Gaelic type of Roderick. The prefix "West" was obtained lots of centuries later on to clear up the difference from East Linton in East Lothian.