Kirkliston is a village and parish to the west of Edinburgh, Scotland, historically within the county of West Lothian but now within the City of Edinburgh council area limits. It lies on high ground immediately north of a northward loop of the Almond, on the old road between Edinburgh and Linlithgow (the B9080, now cut off by Edinburgh Airport), having a crossroads with the road from Newbridge to Queensferry and beyond to Fife (the B800). The B800 is variously named Path Brae, High Street, Station Road, and Queensferry Road as it passes through the town. The B9080 is named Main Street and Stirling Road as it passes through.

The ancient name of the town was Liston, may be derived from the Brythonic llys meaning court or manor, and the Old English tun meaning town or farmstead. Brythons would have been the earliest inhabitants of the area, with Angles later arriving from Northumberland. In the 13th century the name was recorded as Temple Liston, referring to the Knights Templar, who possessed the Barony of Liston at the heart of the parish. The prefix Kirk (church) first appears in the 14th century, after the Knights Templar had been disbanded and their lands given to the Knights Hospitaller. The Hospitallers are commemorated by the Maltese Cross in the arms of the community council, which were granted in 1991.

Kirkliston was the location of the first recorded parliament in Scottish history; the Estates of Scotland met there in 1235, during the reign of Alexander the Second. In June 1298 Edward Longshanks made camp at the town on his way to fight Sir William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk. Tradition states that he planted his standard at Greig's Hill, now within the Gateside housing estate. Archaeological digs in the area have uncovered evidence of the camp, most recently in 2005. A violent quarrel broke out in the camp between Edward's English and Welsh forces, and eighteen ecclesiastics were killed. Clerics' Hill is named in commemoration of them. When the Welshmen announced their intention to defect to the Scots, Edward replied "let my enemies go and join my enemies; I trust that in one day I shall chastise them all."

The barony of Kirkliston, including the village, church, mill, glebe, and demesne, was acquired by the Archbishop of St Andrews in the 15th century. Kirkliston became the site of the court from which the archbishop's lands south of the Forth were administrated, a fact commemorated by the mitre and crozier in the council arms. The Setons of Niddry, whose symbol, a red crescent on gold, is also represented, were hereditary bailies of the barony. The court hall, situated at the head of The Square, became the village school before being demolished in the 1930s.

In July 1543, there was controversy about a plan for Mary, Queen of Scots to marry Prince Edward of England. The two sides met for negotiations at Kirkliston and held a peace making ceremony in the fields.

The oldest house in the town is Castle House, which has a marriage stone dated 1682. Robert Burns stayed there in the summer of 1787 and inscribed this verse on a window pane, now in a Vancouver museum:

The ants about their clod employ their care,
And think the business of the world is theirs;
Lo: Waxen combs seem palaces to bees.
And mites conceive the world to be a cheese.

The eastern section of the Main Street was added as a toll road to Linlithgow around 1800 and buildings developed along it from that time.