Originally the land was within the barony of Colinton and named' Brounysfelde' or Brown's fields after an early land owner. To the south was the former Greehhill estate which bordered the old Burgh Muir. Greenhill estate included Bruntsfield Manor, or Bruntsfield House, a mansion house which was home to a succession of land owners especially the Lauders of Haltoun who occupied the property for 226 years. In 1603 Sir Alexander Lauder sold Bruntsfield House to a John Fairlie of Braid who carried out extensive work on the building. In the reign of Mary Queen of Scots it was still in the posession of his grandson William Fairlie of Brounsfield. In 1695 records show it was sold to George Warrender of Lochend, the then Ballie and later Lord Provest of Edinburgh. The building remained in his family until the 1900 by which time much of of the estate was laid out for temements. Many of the tenements in Bruntsfield today date from the mid 17th Century. Bruntsfield House is now a listed building in the grounds of James Gillespie School.

Bruntsfield Links
Bruntsfield boasts Scotland's oldest golf course, 'The Links' is said to be the first place golf was ever played and is still played there today.

The area is the only remaining part of the original Burgh Muir. Essentially an extension of the Meadows, which was once a loch, but the Links was always dry land. Even today much of the Links is very uneven ground with lots of undulating mounds and hollows, ideal for golf but it is also rumoured that the links served a as a burial ground for Edinburgh's plague victims.