YESTER, or Gifford, a parish, in the county of Haddington, 4 miles (S. by E.)
from Haddington; containing 1069 inhabitants, of whom
525 are in the village of Gifford, about 140 in the hamlets
of Long Yester and Long Newton, and the remainder
in the rural districts. This place, the ancient name
of which was St. Bothan's, derived its present name, after
the Reformation, from the lands of the Hay family, part
of which lie within the limits of the parish. The lands
were granted by William the Lion to Hugh de Gifford,
son of an English gentleman of that name, who in the
reign of David I. had settled in East Lothian, and acquired
extensive landed property. The Gifford family
resided for a long period in the baronial castle of Yester;
but on failure of heirs male, in 1418, their wide estates
were divided among four daughters, co-heiresses, of
whom the eldest, who possessed the manor of Yester,
conveyed that property to the Hay family, by marriage
with Sir William Hay, of Locherwert. Sir William's descendants
were in 1488 created Lords Hay of Yester,
and in 1646 Earls, and in 1694 Marquesses, of Tweeddale.
The parish is about six miles in length from east
to west, and about five miles in breadth, comprising
8928 acres, of which 5400 are arable, 946 woodland and
plantations, sixty undivided common, and 2522 hill pasture.
Its surface is in general elevated, rising gradually
to the Lammermoor hills, of which Lammerlaw, the
highest of the range, is 1*00 feet above the level of the
sea, and wholly within the parish. The vale of Yester
is a tract of fertile land, through which the Gilford
water flows, between banks richly crowned with wood
and thriving plantations, and comprehending much
pleasing scenery, and, in some parts, beautifully picturesque
features. The Lammermoor hills are covered
with heath, interspersed with only a few spots of verdure,
but affording excellent pasturage for sheep. From
these heights descend numerous streams which, uniting
at some distance from the base, form the Gilford water.
The SOIL is principally a light loam intermixed with
clay, and has been by good cultivation mostly rendered
fertile, and in some parts adapted to the growth of
wheat. About 300 acres more of the pasture or waste
land might be reclaimed, and brought into tillage, at a
moderate cost. The chief crops are barley, oats, and
turnips. Agriculture is greatly improved: lands have
been drained and inclosed; bone-dust, rape, and guano
are used as manures with success, and every improvement
in implements of husbandry has been adopted.
Many of the farm-houses are very substantial and commodious,
having been recently erected. Great attention
is paid to live-stock. Al)out 4000 sheep are kept; of
the Cheviot and Leicester breeds, with a cross between
the two. The cattle are of the short-horned breed, with
some of the native Highland and Shetland breeds; aboat
400 arc kept. In this parish the wood consists of oak,
ash, beech, elm, and lime, of which many fine trees are
found on tlie lands of Yester House. The substrata are
principally limestone and clay; the former is worked at
Kidlaw, in the southern ])art of the parish, and the clay
is well adapted for making tiles for roofing and draining,
for which purpose the Marcjucss of Tweeddale has erected
a mill upon his lands. Yester House, the seat of the
marquess, is a handsome mansion, beautifully situated
on the banks of the Gifford water, and surrounded liy a
spacious demesne. Newton Hall and Newhall are also
in the parish. The village of GifiFord stands in the vale
of Yester, and Long Yester and Long Newton at the foot
of the Lammermoor hills; the nearest market-town is
Haddington. Fairs are held at Gifford on the last Tuesday
in March, the third Tuesday in June, and the first
Tuesday in October; they are well attended, and generally
from 3000 to 4000 sheep, 500 head of cattle, and
500 horses are exposed for sale. During harvest, a statute-
fair is held every Monday morning for hiring farmservants.
A sub-post has been established; and facility
of intercourse is afforded by good roads: about three
miles of turnpike-road pass through the parish, and
about thirteen miles of common road kept in repair by
statute labour. The annual value of real property in
Yester is £5842.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of
Haddington, synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, and in
the patronage of the Marquess of Tweeddale: the minister's
stipend is about £240, with a manse, and a glebe
valued at £30 per annum. The church, situated in the
village of Giff'ord, was erected in 1708, and repewed and
thoroughly repaired in 1830; it is a substantial edifice,
and adapted to a congregation of 600 persons. The
members of the Free Church have a place of worship.
There are three parochial schools, respectively at Gifford,
Long Yester, and Long Newton: the master of the Gifford
school has a salary of £34. 4., and a house and garden;
the master of Long Yester has £8. 11. 1. from Gifford, and
£17. 2. 2. from Garvald, and the master of Long Newton
a salary of £8. 11. 1., with a house and garden each.
About a mile from the church, and in the grounds of Yester
House, are the remains of the church of St. Bothan's,
from which the parish derived its former name. It
appears to have been a very elegant, though small,
cruciform structure of red sandstone. The transepts
are of much earlier date than the nave: the pulpit, which
is of oak, very richly carved, was removed to the present
church. What remains of this ancient edifice is now
appropriated as a place of sepulture for the Tweeddale
family. At Duncanlaw, in the eastern part of the parish,
was a chapel dedicated to St. Nicholas, of which there
e.xist no remains. The distinguished reformer, John
Knox, was born in the village of Gifford; and it is said
that Sir Isaac Newton was descended from a branch of
the Newtons of Newton Hall. See Gifford.