Yester Chapel is situated on the estate of Yester House, at the south-east edge of the village of Gifford in East Lothian, Scotland. The chapel is situated at grid reference NT544671 . It is a Category A listed building. [1]
Yester Chapel is situated on the estate of Yester House, at the south-east edge of the village of Gifford in East Lothian, Scotland. The chapel is situated at grid reference NT544671 . It is a Category A listed building. [1]
It is not known when the first church was built on this site but is thought to have been erected by the de Giffard family in the early 13th century, the church having been consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St. Andrews in 1241. Bothans was the original name of the church and village. [2] The lands of Yester were granted to Hugh de Giffard in the 12th century by King Malcolm IV of Scotland and his mother Ada de Warenne. Confirmation of that grant was made at Durham, by Malcolm's brother, William I of Scotland between 1198 and 1202 to Hugo's son William de Giffard. The king referred to Yester as Jhestrid. [3] The church served the parish until 1421 when the new owners of Yester, the Hay family, applied to the Archbishop of St. Andrews to erect the kirk to college status. The application was made by the proprietors of the church, William de Hay, Thomas Boyd, Eustace Maxwell and Dougal McDowel. At that time Sir John Richardson was Rector of Bothans Kirk. The Collegiate Church of St. Cuthbert at Bothans now served the Hay family to pray for their souls. It was attended by a provost, four prebendaries, a chaplain and singing boys. [4] In 1539, Robert Watherstone was the provost and the college now had six prebendaries.
After the Reformation in 1560, the church returned to being the Parish Church of Bothans or Bothanis as it was sometimes known, with the Hay family still the principal proprietors. That situation continued until the Hays, now the Marquesses of Tweeddale, decided to build a new village, Gifford, East Lothian, and clear the village of Bothans. They also built a new church, Yester Kirk in 1708, spelling the end for the old kirk at Bothans. Bothans Kirk, now known as Yester Chapel, became the burial aisle of the Hay family. The church has had much restoration and necessary repairs over the years. [2] [5]
Yester is from Yestryd, Cymric for strath or dale. [6] Bothans is from the Gaelic Bothans or Welsh Bwthyn, both words meaning "a group of small dwellings".
Marquess of Tweeddale is a title of the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1694 for the 2nd Earl of Tweeddale. Lord Tweeddale holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Tweeddale, Earl of Gifford (1694), Viscount of Walden (1694), Lord Hay of Yester (1488), and Baron Tweeddale, of Yester in the County of Haddington (1881), all but the last in the Peerage of Scotland. As Baron Tweeddale in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, Lord Tweeddale sat between 1881 and 1963 in the House of Lords. The Marquess's eldest son uses Viscount Walden as a courtesy title.
Bara, anciently spelt Baro, is an agricultural parish in East Lothian, Scotland, which adjoins the parish of Garvald to the east, and Lauder across the Lammermuir Hills. It is south-west of Haddington.
Gifford is a village in the parish of Yester in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Haddington and 25 miles (40 km) east of Edinburgh.
Restalrig is a small residential suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located east of the city centre, west of Craigentinny and to the east of Lochend, both of which it overlaps. Restalrig Road is the main route through the area, running from London Road, at Jock's Lodge, to Leith Links. It is in the ward of Lochend.
Yester Castle is a ruined castle, located 1+1⁄2 miles southeast of the village of Gifford in East Lothian, Scotland. The only remaining complete structure is the subterranean Goblin Ha' or Hobgoblin Ha' . It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, recorded as such by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
James Smith was a Scottish architect, who pioneered the Palladian style in Scotland. He was described by Colen Campbell, in his Vitruvius Britannicus (1715–1725), as "the most experienced architect of that kingdom".
Garvald is a village south-east of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. It lies on the Papana Water south of the B6370, east of Gifford. The combined parish of Garvald and Bara, borders Whittingehame to the East, Morham to the North, Yester to the West, and Lauder to the South. It is mainly an agricultural parish. The red freestone once constantly mined in this parish was well known throughout the whole country.
The Archdeaconry of Lothian, located in modern-day Scotland, was a sub-division of the diocese of St Andrews, one of two archdeaconries within the diocese and in essence that part of the diocese which lay south of the Forth. The Lothian archdeaconry was headed by the Archdeacon of Lothian, a subordinate of the Bishop of St Andrews.
The first Hugh de Giffard was an influential feudal baron in Scotland, and one of the hostages for the release of King William the Lion in 1174.
The Parish Church of St Cuthbert is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in central Edinburgh. Probably founded in the 7th century, the church once covered an extensive parish around the burgh of Edinburgh. The church's current building was designed by Hippolyte Blanc and completed in 1894.
Yester Parish Church is a church of the Church of Scotland in the village of Gifford, East Lothian, Scotland. The village forms part of Yester, Bolton and Saltoun parish, and is a linked charge with Humbie Parish Church.
Saltoun Parish Church is a church in East Saltoun, East Lothian, Scotland. It is part of the Church of Scotland, and serves the parish of Yester, Bolton and Saltoun, which includes the villages of Gifford, Bolton, East Saltoun and West Saltoun.
Spott is a small village on the eastern fringes of East Lothian in Scotland, just over 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Dunbar. The village straddles an unclassified road leading from the main A1 highway at grid reference NT673755.
Lady Yester's Kirk was a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The building is located on Infirmary Street in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was formerly one of the foremost churches in the burgh. It is now used as the joinery workshop for the Estates Division of the University of Edinburgh.
Yester House is an early 18th-century mansion near Gifford in East Lothian, Scotland. It was the home of the Hay family, later Marquesses of Tweeddale, from the 15th century until the late 1960s. Construction of the present house began in 1699, and continued well into the 18th century in a series of building phases. It is now protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds of the house are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.
William Montagu Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale KT DL, known before 1878 as Lord William Hay or Lord William Montagu Hay, was a Scottish landowner, peer and politician. He was born at Yester House, near Gifford, East Lothian, and served in British India as a member of the Bengal Civil Service and later as a Liberal Member of Parliament.
Corstorphine Old Parish Church, formerly St. John's Collegiate Church, is at the old centre of Corstorphine, a village incorporated to the west area of Edinburgh. Built in the 15th century, in the churchyard of a 12th-century or earlier chapel, the former collegiate church was listed category A by Historic Scotland on December 14, 1970.
James Hay, 7th Lord Hay of Yester (1564-1609) was a Scottish landowner and courtier.