Braid, a burn and a range of low green hills in the N of Edinburghshire. The burn rises among the Pentlands 1½ mile SSW of Bonally; runs about 9 miles north-eastward, eastward, and again north-eastward to the Firth of Forth at the north-western end of Portobello; drains parts of the parishes of Currie, Colinton, St Cuthbert's, Liberton, and Duddingston; has its course, at parts due S of Edinburgh, between the Braid Hills and Blackford Hill; and, adjacent to the SE base of Arthur's Seat, flows through the pleasure-grounds of Duddingston House, and is accumulated in ponds to drive the flourmills of Duddingston. The hills extend E and W on the S side of the burn and on the mutual border of Colinton, St Cuthbert's, and Liberton parishes; culminate at a point 3 miles S by E of Edinburgh Castle; have a summit altitude of 698 feet above sea-level; and command a superb view of the Old Town of Edinburgh and the surrounding country. A grand convention of 5000 Seceders, besides ` the ungodly audience, consisting of many thousands,' was held (22 May 1738) on the Braid Hills; and a traditional legend makes them the scene of Johnie o' Breadislee's woful hunting, as related in the old ballad commencing-.
'Johnie rose up in a May morning.
Called for water to wash his hands, hands,
And he is awa' to Braidis banks,
To ding the dun deer doun. doun,
To ding the dun deer doun.'
-See Sir Thomas Dick Lander's Rivers of Scotland (new ed. 1874).
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