West Linton is a town and civil parish in southerly Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the area of Peeblesshire, yet since city government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is currently part of Scottish Borders. Much of its citizens are travelers, owing to the village's closeness to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 kilometres) to the north eastern. West Linton has a lengthy background, and also holds an annual traditional event called the Whipman Play. The town of Linton is of old beginning. Its name stems from a Celtic aspect (cognate with the contemporary Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, and 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 pool, or Dublin, an Anglicisation of dubh and linn, suggesting black swimming pool) as well as the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "hullabaloo"), for a citadel, fortified area, or military camp (pertaining to the contemporary English town, by way of the Saxon "tun", a farm or collection of homes), and is obviously ideal, as the village shows up to have actually been bordered by lakes, pools and marshes. At one time it was referred to as Lyntoun Roderyck, identified perhaps with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose region included this area, 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 acquired several centuries later to clear up the difference from East Linton in East Lothian.