West Linton is a village and civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was previously in the region of Peeblesshire, however considering that local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. Most of its locals are travelers, owing to the town's distance to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 km) to the north east. West Linton has a lengthy history, and holds a yearly typical celebration called the Whipman Play. The town of Linton is of ancient origin. Its name stems from a Celtic element (cognate with the modern Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, as well as modern-day Welsh "Llyn") indicating 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 also linn, meaning black pool) and also the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "cacophony"), for a fortress, fortified location, or armed forces camp (related to the contemporary English community, by way of the Saxon "tun", a farm or collection of dwellings), as well as is obviously appropriate, as the village appears to have been surrounded by lakes, pools as well as marshes. At once it was called Lyntoun Roderyck, identified possibly with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose region included this location, or with a neighborhood chieftain of that name. The Scottish Gaelic version of the name is a partial translation, Ruairidh being a Gaelic type of Roderick. The prefix "West" was obtained several centuries later to make clear the difference from East Linton in East Lothian.