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Royal Commission on
Ancient & Historical Monuments in Scotland from the "Transactions of the East Lothian Antiquarian & Field Naturalists Society VOL. XIII 1972 |
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| The lands of
Yester came into the hands of the Hay family through the
marriage of Sir Thomas de Hay to a Gifford heiress at the end of the 14th century. Although they held extensive estates in Peeblesshire, and chose to take the title of Earls of Tweeddale when ennobled by Charles I, the family seem always to have regarded Yester as their principal seat. At first they occupied the early Gifford castle, which they had acquired with the property, and whose ruins (celebrated for the subterranean 'Goblin Hall') still stand within a mile of Yester House. By the latter part of the 16th century, however, the castle had been abandoned and the family were living in a house standing close to the site of the present mansion. A remarkable series of contemporary paintings, now preserved at Yester, shows this house as it appeared shortly before its demolition in about 1700. The nucleus of the building was a four-storeyed tower-house which to judge from the evidence of an inscribed fireplace-lintel preserved in one of the ground-floor rooms of the mansion had been erected by William, 5th Lord Hay of Yester, in 1582. The paintings indicate that by the end of the 17th century wings had been added on each side of the tower, while to the north there lay a forecourt and entrance-gateway. The elaborate formal garden depicted on the south side of the house, together with the adjacent fountain and cascades and the extensive avenues and plantations, were presumably the creation of John Hay, 2nd Earl and 1st Marquess of Tweeddale, who had succeeded to the estate in 1653. Lord Tweeddale was the first member of the family to become a figure of national importance. During the Civil War he had supported the Royalist cause, garrisoning his Peeblesshire residence, Neidpath Castle, against Cromwell's armies in 1650. Subsequently the Earl moderated his political views, and after serving in two Commonwealth parliaments embarked at the Restoration upon a long and successful career as a statesman, holding office under three successive sovereigns and ultimately receiving a marquisate. |
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