West Linton is a town and also civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the county of Peeblesshire, but considering that city government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. A number of its locals are travelers, owing to the town's closeness to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 kilometres) to the north east. West Linton has a long history, and holds a yearly traditional festival called the Whipman Play. The village of Linton is of ancient origin. Its name stems from a Celtic component (cognate with the contemporary Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, as well as contemporary Welsh "Llyn") meaning 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 swimming pool, or Dublin, an Anglicisation of dubh as well as linn, indicating black swimming pool) and also the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "hubbub"), for a citadel, strengthened area, or army camp (pertaining to the contemporary English town, using the Saxon "tun", a ranch or collection of homes), as well as is seemingly appropriate, as the town appears to have actually been surrounded by lakes, swimming pools as well as marshes. At once it was known as Lyntoun Roderyck, identified perhaps with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose region included this location, or with a local chieftain of that name. The Scottish Gaelic variation of the name is a partial translation, Ruairidh being a Gaelic kind of Roderick. The prefix "West" was acquired lots of centuries later to clarify the difference from East Linton in East Lothian.