Balm Well, St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh is a Grade B listed building in the City of Edinburgh local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 14 December 1970. Well house.

Balm Well, St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh

WRENN ID
long-tin-curlew
Grade
B
Local Planning Authority
City of Edinburgh
Constituency
Edinburgh South MP: Ian Murray (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
14 December 1970
Type
Well house
OS grid reference
NT 273 683
Coordinates
55.90287, -3.16397
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

Balm Well is a well house located at St Catherine's House on Howdenhall Road in Edinburgh. It was originally built in 1617 by order of James VI. The structure is small and features a vaulted design with gables and an ashlar Renaissance front. Notably, it has a lintel that dates back to 1563.

Local climate

Balm Well, St Catherine's House, Howdenhall Road, Edinburgh sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 970 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 76% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 53% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 25 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • No EPC on record for this property
  • No sale records on file
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  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
  • Flood risk assessment
  • Radon risk assessment
  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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