West Linton is a village as well as civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was previously in the area of Peeblesshire, yet since city government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. A number of its locals are commuters, owing to the town's distance to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 km) to the north east. West Linton has a long history, as well as holds an annual standard festival called the Whipman Play. The village of Linton is of old origin. Its name originates from a Celtic element (cognate with the contemporary Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, as well as modern Welsh "Llyn") meaning a lake or pool, a pool in a river, or a channel (as in Loch Linnhe, part of which is called An Linne Dhubh, the black swimming pool, or Dublin, an Anglicisation of dubh as well as linn, indicating black swimming pool) and the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "din"), for a fortress, fortified place, or armed forces camp (related to the contemporary English community, using the Saxon "tun", a farm or collection of dwellings), as well as is obviously appropriate, as the town appears to have been bordered by lakes, pools and also marshes. At one time it was referred to as Lyntoun Roderyck, identified maybe with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose area included this area, or with a local chieftain of that name. The Scottish Gaelic version of the place name is a partial translation, Ruairidh being a Gaelic type of Roderick. The prefix "West" was acquired several centuries later to clarify the distinction from East Linton in East Lothian.