The Parish of Greenbank, as outlined on the accompanying map, is situated in the south western suburbs of Edinburgh. It is, as described in the foreword to Malcolm Cant’s book about the district “related to but distinctively different from Morningside out of which it grew.”

The Parish contains 2161 households, many of them bungalows and villas dating from the substantial building programme of the 1930s, but also including the much more recent build of “Greenbank Village” in the grounds of the former City Hospital. Almost all the households are owner-occupied and a very large proportion of the people work in professional or managerial jobs. There is virtually no unemployment in the parish. 645 households in the parish are occupied by members of Greenbank Parish Church but it should be mentioned that as the church is located at the very north-western edge of the parish its natural ‘catchment’ area extends significantly beyond the traditional parish boundaries.

The Parish is almost exclusively residential in nature, supplemented by large areas of open space including the Braid Hills, Hermitage of Braid and Braidburn Valley Park. The church has used the latter occasionally to host open air events. It is well served by schools with most of the households being in the catchment areas for either South Morningside or Pentland Primary Schools. The Minister is the chaplain for the former and at present South Morningside School Nursery meets in one of the church halls. Secondary education is provided by Boroughmuir High School and Firrhill High School with the large and well known private school, George Watson’s College, also being within walking distance of the Parish.

Edinburgh City Centre is easily reached by bus and there are many local shops in Morningside and Bruntsfield. To the south the Edinburgh City Bypass is a short distance away providing links to the M8, M9, the Airport, Forth Road Bridge and to the south and east.

The Presbytery of Edinburgh Plan places Greenbank in a grouping with Morningside Parish to the north and Fairmilehead Parish to the south. The Plan shows that there is no expectation of any changes to the number of ordained Ministers (currently 3) that will be required in this grouping by 2015.

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