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On
March 30th 1708, the minister, heritors, elders and heads of
families in Yester parish gathered for the visitation
of the
Presbytery of
Haddington.
John Hay of Hopes, factor to the 2nd Marquis of Tweeddale,
speaking on behalf of the heritors, announced that
'in view of the recent
alterations to the parish boundaries, the Lord Marquis was willing
and
ready to build a new church and manse in the town of
Gifford and to
assign as much land for a new glebe as might be equivalent to the
glebe presently possessed by the Minister of Yester.'
This meeting was held in the original parish church of Yester,
known as St. Cuthbert's.
It was founded in 1241 and became the parish
church in 1572 after the Reformation. It stands not far from Yester
House and used to serve the household and the
community which had
grown up round the house
in the settlement called Bothans.
(See the
article by J. M. Bulloch in Transactions Vol. IX).
But when, after the
enclosure of Yester Park at the end of the seventeenth century, the
estate
workforce was gradually displaced to form the village of Gifford, it
became clear that everyone's interests
would be
better served by having a
new
church built in the village.
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Yester
Church. Early 1900s. |
However, before this could happen, a
problem
had to be addressed.
The site of Gifford was outside the old
boundaries of
Yester parish
and in the adjoining
parish of Bara.
The
Marquis used his influence and in 1702
the necessary
changes were
made.
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Yester parish was extended northwards to take in Sherriffside,
Duncanlaw, Winding Law, Gifford, Broadwoodside and
Woodhead from the
parish of Bara, and Marvingston from the parish of Bolton,
surrendering
Hopes, Castlemains and Quarryford to Garvald parish which was
amalgamated
with what was left of Bara.
Bara church was allowed to
fall into disrepair; evidence of its site
north of Linplum is now confined to a few tombstones.
The old church at Bothans was later converted into
the
Tweeddale family burial vault.
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