A Church that speaks of ‘continuity in meaningful worship’

SERIES

GIFFORD is a very attractive village in East Lothian, a part of eastern Scotland sandwiched between the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills, the eastmost part of the Southern Uplands.

Most of East Lothian is relatively lat, and its soil fairly light. Its climate is dry enough for the successful growing of cereal crops, wheat, barley and oats, a feature it shares with the Merse of Berwickshire and parts of Moray and Easter Ross.

In the period between 1700 and the early 19th century it became a county of large, well-managed farms, and of mills, breweries and distilleries processing its cereal crops. The wealth of the area is still demonstrated by the richness of its heritage of church buildings. The largest is St Mary’s, Haddington, of the late mediaeval period, but most of the towns and villages have fine parish churches.

One of the most attractive of these is the subject of this article; Yester Parish Church in the village of Gifford.

The parish now known as Yester dates back to the division of lowland Scotland into parishes, part of the changes in land-ownership introduced by the Scottish monarchy in the 12th century – the feudal system – with ‘nobles’ appointed by the monarch to administer parishes or groups of parishes. What is now the parish of Yester was allocated to a member of the Norman family of Gifford, and the tenure of that family was confirmed in a charter by William the Lion in favour of Hugh Gifford.

As was expected of the new nobility, the Giffords built a parish church close to where they lived. It was dedicated to St Bothan (actually S Boithene, a cousin of St Columba, who succeeded him as abbot of Iona).

In 1418 the parish passed by marriage into the hands of the Hay family, of Borthwick, Midlothian. In 1451, as was fashionable at that time, that family converted it into a ‘collegiate church’, with a provost, six prebendaries (priests serving as well as other parishes) and two ‘singing boys’. The duties of this ‘college’ included offering Masses for the souls of the departed members of the Gifford family.

After the Reformation in 1560 the college was dissolved and the church became the parish church of what became Yester parish.

The name ‘Yester’ comes from the Brythonic word ‘ystrad’, meaning ‘strath’.

The Hays became earls of Tweeddale in 1646 and Marquesses of Tweeddale in 1694. In 1708 a new Marquess decided to abandon the old Gifford Castle, and to build a new country house. To give this a better setting, he laid out a new village, the present Gifford, and demolished the old one. He built the present parish church in 1710. It was designed by the architect of his new house, James Smith.

The old parish church was retained as the burial place of the Hays, and was given a new Gothic front by the Adam Brothers in 1753. It still survives in the grounds of Yester House.

In a county of fine parish churches Yester rates very highly.

In winter, when the trees in front of it are bare its stark white simplicity impresses.

It dominates a view along one of Gifford’s two main streets. It is on a T-plan, characteristic of early 18th-century Church of Scotland churches; internally it has many interesting features, including a fine pulpit, which may have come from the previous church. The tower is particularly striking. The body of the building was probably raised in height in the late 18th-century, hence the tall round-headed windows flanking the tower.

It was repaired in 1830 when pointed windows were inserted in the gables.

There is a warmth about the church and the place that speaks of continuity in meaningful worship over many generations.

This article appears in the November 2018 Issue of Life and Work

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