A public park in S Edinburgh, Inch Park lies between Cameron Toll Shopping Centre and The Inch housing estate, 2¼ miles (3.5 km) south southeast of the city centre. Bounded by Old Dalkeith Road to the northeast and Gilmerton Road to the southwest, it extends to 24.7 ha (61 acres) and comprises part of the policies of Inch House which dates from 1617 and still lies at the centre of the park. The name 'inch' refers to low-lying land alongside a river, and that river is the Braid Burn which still flows through the Park. Inch Park consists of two levels; an upper level comprising grass and mature trees, while the lower section, next to the river, is given over to sport, with a sports pavilion, two football pitches, two rugby pitches and a cricket square. These provide home grounds for Lismore Rugby Football Club and Edinburgh South (Mitre) Cricket Club. The lower section of the Park also serves as a flood storage reservoir, the largest of the Braid Burn Flood Prevention Scheme, a £43-million civil engineering project instituted after severe flooding in Spring 2000 and opened in 2010 by Minister for Environment, Roseanna Cunningham (b.1951). The sports pitches are sacrificed in times of flooding to hold water which would otherwise cause flooding downstream. As part of this work this section of the Braid Burn has returned to a more natural state, with benefits to wildlife, including heron and water fowl.
A children's play area and the City of Edinburgh Council's Inch Park Nurseries are also located here, while Liberton Primary School and Kingsinch Special School lie on the edge of the Park.
