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On the Braid Road adjacent to the entrance to the Mortonhall Golf Club and outside Buckstane farmhouse stands the Buckstane which is built into the wall at the entrance to the old farmhouse. The stone is about 3 feet high and 1 foot wide. There is a plaque in the wall behind the stone which states:

This march stone, a relic of feudal times, occupied a commanding site on the old Roman Road about 250 yards north from this spot. By tradition the name was from the stone having marked the place where the buckhounds were unleashed when the King of Scotland hunted in this region. 

It is from the Buckstane that the area now known as Buckstone derives it name.

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On the west side of the main road, Buckstone Terrace, lie the areas of Camus and Caiystane.

In Caiystane View stands the ancient stone known as the Caiy Stane, which is under the care of the National Trust for Scotland. The stone is just over nine feet high and faces almost due east and west. There is a curved row of six ancient cup marks on the eastern face. 

There is a plaque beside the stone which relates the history:

Standing at over nine feet high on a summit, originally with wide views this broad slab of red sandstone includes a line of six, probably prehistoric, cup marks on its reverse face.

The stone may have been erected as early as the Neolithic period, possibly before 3000 BC, to denote a ritual or burial place. Records of cairs, cists and urns found in the immediate vicinity show that the hilltop continued to be used for burial in the Bronze Age.

Discovery of these remains led to the supposition that Caiyside Hill was the site of a battle, variously suggested to have involved invading Romans, Danes (Vikings); or Cromwellians. The Caiy Stane, also known as the Kel Stane, the Cat Stane or the Camus Stane, was thought to have been a battle memorial stone.

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To the south of Caiystane and nestling at the foot of the Pentlands over the City Bypass lies the Conservation Area of Swanston village. 

The village of Swanston, about 600 feet above sea-level, grew up in the early eighteenth century around the farm and originally consisted of ten thatched cottages. The thatched cottages still remain but when renovated in about 1960 the outer walls were retained but the ten cottages were made into seven.

At the turn of the 20th century the stone cottages of New Swanston with their slated roofs were built on three sides round a grass area just across the burn from the old village.

In 1761 Swanston Cottage was built. Each summer from 1867 to 1880 the Stevenson family  took up residence in Swanston Cottage.

The Stevenson family were famous as lighthouse designers but perhaps the most famous member of the family is Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894). His Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes (1878) and Memories & Portraits (1887) give good illustrations of the surrounding areas and descriptions of the scenery.

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Coming back eastwards along Oxgangs Road from Swanston Road you arrive at Fairmilehead. This is a crossroads with Oxgangs Road on the west, Buckstone Terrace to the north of the junction, Frogston Road West to the east, and Biggar Road leading south.   

Beside the old waterman’s cottages at the top of Buckstone Terrace is the entrance to the big water filtration works, the majority of which is hidden from the passer-by.

Just round the corner, on Frogston Road West is Fairmilehead Parish Church, opened in April 1938. The tower is a pleasant landmark at the Fairmilehead crossroads. East of Fairmilehead Church stood the Princess Margaret Rose Hospital which was an important orthopaedic hospital. It was commonly called the PMR. The Duke and Duchess of York (the late George VI and Queen Mother) laid the foundation stone in1929 and was officially opened in June 1933. The hospital was recently closed with the transfer of its orthopaedic services to the new Royal Infirmary at Little France. Most of the site is now being demolished for new housing.

Behind the PMR , 600 feet above sea level, is the Gallachlaw and eastwards stands the Fairmile Marie Curie Cancer Centre which has an invaluable caring role for patients with cancer.