Balerno is a suburb of Edinburgh, situated to the south-west of the city at the foot of the Pentland Hills.

The eighteenth century saw a lot of new development in this area in the form of flax, snuff and paper mills and a railway from Edinburgh-centre created an upsurge of house-building after the first World War.

Commercial and industrial interests were overtaken by residential pressures and since then the mills have closed down and the railway has been removed.