Overview of Liberton Golf Club

Occupying the fine B-listed mansion of Kingston Grange, and 33 ha (82 acres) of associated parkland, in S Edinburgh, Liberton Golf Club lies on the east bank of the Burdiehouse Burn 3 miles (5 km) southeast of the city centre.

Kingston Grange was built as Sunnyside House 1785-8 by the noted architect Robert Adam (1728-92) and renamed c.1850. Comprising two storeys and an attic, only the harled rear portion of the house as it stands today is original Adam, featuring a semi-circular centre bow containing the dining room still retaining some original decorative features. The front elevation was added c.1840 by William Burn (1789 - 1870) and David Bryce (1803 - 1876) in restrained Jacobean style, with a Roman Doric entrance through a centrally-placed gable featuring a peculiar solitary chimney above.

The Edinburgh Evening Courant (18th July 1778) indicates the grounds were laid out earlier (c.1761) by John Adam (1721-92), suggesting the possibility of an earlier house on the site. A nine-hole golf course was opened in 1920 on land leased from Brigadier-General Sir Gordon Gilmour of Liberton and Craigmillar (1857 - 1939), then owner of Kingston Grange. The house was tenanted but within a year the tenant left and the golf club was able to lease both the house and remaining land from the Liberton and Craigmillar Estate. The course was extended to 18-holes in 1923. During World War II the land was used for training, while the house was designated to accommodate relief workers. More notably, the fine specimen trees which had surrounded the house were felled due to the demand for timber. The property was finally purchased from Sir John Little Gilmour (1899 - 1977) in 1949. A new lounge opened within the clubhouse in 1971.

Today Liberton is a par 67 course played over 5344 yards (4886m).