Balerno is a residential area of Edinburgh, Scotland located 8 miles (13 kilometres) south-west of the city centre, beside Currie and then Juniper Green. Administratively, Balerno drops within the territory of the City of Edinburgh Council. Its name derives from the Scottish Gaelic Baile Àirneach, suggesting "townland/town of the hawthorns". The earliest written records of Balhernoch or Balernach are discovered in the late 13th century. The 18th Century brought considerable advancement to the location, with numerous new flax, snuff as well as paper mills springing up around the Water of Leith and also its tributary, the Bavelaw Burn (proof of flax manufacturing can be seen in Harlaw Woods). The biggest of these mills, Balerno Bank Paper Mill located near the centre of the old village closed in the very early 1980s. After the First World War home structure began in earnest in the location and also ever since property pressures have virtually overwhelmed industrial and commercial ones. There was a brief loop railway running over what is currently the Water of Leith Walkway.