West Linton is a village and also civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the region of Peeblesshire, however considering that local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is currently part of Scottish Borders. Most of its homeowners are travelers, owing to the town's closeness to Edinburgh, which is 16 miles (26 kilometres) to the north east. West Linton has a lengthy background, and holds an annual conventional festival called the Whipman Play. The town of Linton is of ancient beginning. Its name derives from a Celtic element (cognate with the modern Irish Gaelic linn, Scottish Gaelic linne, as well as modern-day Welsh "Llyn") suggesting a lake or pool, a pool in a river, or a network (as in Loch Linnhe, part of which is called An Linne Dhubh, the black pool, or Dublin, an Anglicisation of dubh and also linn, suggesting black pool) and the Gaelic "dun" Welsh "din"), for a citadel, strengthened area, or army camp (related to the modern English town, by way of the Saxon "tun", a ranch or collection of dwellings), as well as is obviously appropriate, as the village appears to have actually been surrounded by lakes, swimming pools and marshes. At once it was called Lyntoun Roderyck, identified possibly with Roderyck or Riderch, King of Strathclyde, whose area included this location, or with a neighborhood chieftain of that name. The Scottish Gaelic variation of the place name is a partial translation, Ruairidh being a Gaelic type of Roderick. The prefix "West" was obtained numerous centuries later to clear up the difference from East Linton in East Lothian.