PLACE NAME
Edith Bellenden is a fictional character in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Old Morality, which is set in south west Scotland during the 17thCentury. The novel deals with the period of the Covenanters, members of a Scottish religious and political movement who rise up against the Crown. Bellenden is the modest and attractive granddaughter of staunch royalist Lady Margaret Bellenden, the mistress of Tillietudlem Castle. She is also the love interest of the main protagonist, Covenanter Henry Morton. When Henry is sentenced to die, she saves him by appealing to her other suitor, Lord Evandale, to intercede for him. The novel was first published in 1816 as part of Scott’s Waverley novels which throughout the 19thCentury were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe. The road was built in the 1870s, it is one of a small group of local streets that are named after leading characters in Scott’s novels. See Avondale Rise and Ivanhoe Road.
