Gogar, archaeological and historical evidence for a lost medieval parish near Edinburgh

Abstract

The parish of Gogar, located just to the west of Edinburgh, ceased to exist shortly after the
Reformation. The name ‘Gogar’ survives in various modern place-names but extensive recent
development has obliterated most of the historic topography of the former parish. Redevelopment
of the site of the former Gogarburn Hospital for the new global headquarters of the Royal Bank of
Scotland led to archaeological investigations in 2003 that identified part of the medieval fermtoun
of Nether Gogar. The results of the archaeological investigations have been combined here with
historical research to present a reconstruction of the ‘lost’ parish, focusing on evidence for the
fermtoun of Nether Gogar in the medieval period (ad 1200–1600).