General Notes

REFN: 1154AN
REFN: P1154
Laird of Yester ; Sheriff of Peeblesshire or Tweeddale. Commission er
appointed to treat with the English. April 27, 1409, Given safe-conduct
to England on 5 occasions. 1420, Founded the Collegiate Church of Yester.
" .. was Sheriff of Peeblesshire. He married Jean or Joanna, eldest
daughter of S ir Hugh Giffard of Yester, the head of an old family which
settled in Scotlan d in the reign of David I, and obtained from that
monarch lands in East Lothi an. William the Lion conferred upon him the
barony of Yester. In the course o f time the parish which bore that name
came to be popularly called Giffard. H is grandson, Hugh Giffard, was one
of the guardians of Alexander III and his queen. He was regarded as a
skillful magician, and several anecdotes are told of his magical art, and
his control over demons and the powers of nature. Fo rdun mentions that in
Giffard's castle there was a capacious cavern, said to have been formed
by magical art, and called in the country, 'Bo-Hall,' that i s, Hobgoblin
Hall. Sir David Dalrymple, in his 'Annals,' says, 'A stair of tw enty-four
steps led down to this apartment, which is a large and spacious hal l,
with an arched roof; and though it has stood for many centuries, and been
exposed to the external air for a period of fifty or sixty years, it is
sti ll as firm and entire as if it had only stood a few years. From the
floor of this hall another stair of thirty-six steps leads down to a pit,
which hath a communication with Hope's Water.' This ancient and strong
castle, which stan ds on an elevated peninsula, near the junction of two
streams, has long been in ruins, though the Goblin Hall was tenanted by
the Marquis of Tweeddale's f alconer so late as 1737. Sir Hugh's
appearance and dress are vividly describe d by Sir Walter Scott in the
third canto of 'Marmion;' and of the hall he say s --
" 'Of lofty roof and ample size,
Beneath the castle deep it lies;
To he w the living rock profound,
The floor to pave, the arch to round,
There never toiled a mortal arm;
It all was wrought by word and charm.'
"Sir Hugh Giffar d's heiress brought the barony of Yester into the
Tweeddale family, and they quartered the arms of Giffard with their own.
"The Church of Yester, of which Sir William obtained the patronage along
with the estate, was originally call ed St. Bathan's. It was converted by
him into a cllegiate establishment for a provost, six prebendaries, and
two choristers; and in this state it continue d until the Reformation.
"Though the Hays were henceforth designated as of Yes ter, they still
continued to resiDe at Neidpath Castle, on the banks of the T weed, near
Peebles. In all probability the newer part of that castle was buil t by
Sir William in the early part of the fifteenth century. For the sake of
security the walls of the new structure were made enormously thick and
stro ng; but a serious mistake was committed in a military point of view,
in allow ing teh old castle to remain, for its walls were greatly inferior
in strength and thickness to those of the new part of the fortress, and
the old part con sequently formed its vulnerable part as soon as artillery
came into use.
"Si r William took for his second wife, Alice, daughter of Sir Thomas Hay,
of Err ol, and had issue by both wives. The first bore to him three sons
and three d aughters, the second a son and a daughter. The eldest son,
William, predeceas ed him; the second son, Thomas, was one of the hostages
for James I in 1423, when his income was estimated at six hundred marks
yearly. He survived his fa ther only four years, and died unmarried in
1432. He was succeeded by his bro ther, David ..."
The Great Historic Families of Scotland, James Taylor