Yester, Bolton and Saltoun Church

Bolton and Saltoun had been linked in the early days of the Reformation but then separated.  In 1929 the two parishes again joined together under one minister, this time as a union.  In 1979 the B&S congregation linked with those of Yester and Humbie.  

Then, in the most recent change, in 2015 Yester Bolton & Saltoun formed a union, linked with Humbie. Our congregation comes from all three villages and the surrounding areas, and we worship in all three church buildings. ​

Over 1400 years ago St Cuthbert was sent out from Lindisfarne as a missionary monk to the hill villages of the Lammermuirs, visiting "villages which were remotely situated among steep and rugged hills, places others feared to visit".  St Cuthbert would surely be gratified to know that his daring journey has led to such a long tradition of Christian worship in those 'dangerous' villages.

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​Yester Church

​The Church’s name ‘Yester’ follows the name of the estate of the hereditary landowner. ‘Yester’ is a form of the ancient word 'Ystrad' meaning “strath”- indeed an apt description of the configuration of the district through which runs a stream, which has its springs in the Lammermuirs and, as it flows gently past the Hopes, Yester, Gifford and Colstoun to join the Tyne, it has for centuries brought freshness, charm and some water-power to the inhabitants of Yester.

On 30 March 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, announced on behalf of the heritors 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, which had been consecrated in 1241 by David de Bernham, Bishop of St. Andrews 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 a settlement called Bothans. 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 interest would be better served by having a new church built in the village. 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. Yester parish was extended northwards to take in Sheriffside, 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. The old church at Bothans was later converted into the Tweeddale family burial vault. (John H Simpson, The History of Yester Church) 

​The first worshippers in the new building in Gifford would have found unplastered stone walls and a stone floor, empty save for the pulpit and perhaps one or two fixed seats around the walls and a few bench seats under the end galleries. The rest of the congregation stood or sat on stool they had brought with them. There were no pews, no organ, no railings, no panelling, no platforms. However, the bell which is still rung every Sunday before public worship dates from 1492, and is certainly a survival from the earlier building and Bothans. The Marquis of Tweeddale, as landowner and principal heritor, had the Tweeddale gallery, with its retiring room and private outside stair, while the other heritors occupied the north and south galleries. Only in 1830/1, a wooden floor was laid, the church was fitted out with pews and with table seats under the Laird's loft, the floors in the galleries were stepped to provide tiered seating and the steeple rebuilt.

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The village name 'Gifford' came originally from the family name of the landowners, the most famous member being Hugo de Gifford celebrated by Sir Walter Scott in “Marmion.” Walter de Gyffarde was one of the foremost of the Norman Nobles who accompanied William the Conqueror in 1066. A branch of the family was welcomed to Scotland by David I in the 12th century. In Yester house, there exists a Royal Charter dated 1190, given by William the Lion, granting these lands to the de Giffords. 
 
Although it is sometimes claimed that John Knox, called “Giffordiensis” by his friend Beza, came from the village, it is now more generally accepted that John Knox was born at Gifford Gate, Haddington.

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One of the most famous sons of this parish is the Rev John Witherspoon (1723-1794), who became President of Princeton College, New Jersey in 1768. He was the first Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of America and was the only clergyman to sign the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. John Witherspoon was brought up in Gifford, and was a descendant of John Knox on his mother's side, and his father, the Rev James Witherspoon, was minister at Yester Kirk from 1720-1759.
 
The 300th Anniversary of the first service in the church was held in September 2010. In the past few years, extensive refurbishment work has taken place in the building and the church tower.
  
In 2015, Yester Parish united with the neighbouring (and previously linked) parish of Bolton and Saltoun Church, to form the new parish of Yester, Bolton and Saltoun Church, linked with Humbie Church. ​

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​Bolton Church

​A bronze plaque on the boundary wall of the churchyard reads:

             In this Churchyard lies the mortal                  remains of the mother, brother
                              and sister of Scotland's
                      national poet, Robert Burns.


HISTORY
There has been a church at Bolton since 1244. By the time of the Reformation in 1560 the lands at Bolton belonged to John Hepburn, a member of the family of the notorious Bothwell family.  In 1568, Hepburn was executed for his part in the Kirk o' Field plot, which had resulted in the murder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots.  The estate, along with neighbouring Lethington (later Lennoxlove), then passed to the Maitland family who owned it until 1696.

For the first few years after the Reformation, Bolton shared a minister with Saltoun but this arrangement ended in 1576 and the two parishes remained completely separate until 1928 when they were united, again sharing a minister.  In 1979, they were linked with Humbie and Yester, a return to the situation at the Reformation and for much the same reason - to make the most economic and effective use of the Church's resources.  2015 saw the further union of Yester, Bolton and Saltoun congregations, linked with Humbie.


THE CHURCH BUILDING
There are no records of what the previous churches looked like but, towards the end of the 18th century, the building was no longer felt to be satisfactory.  In the Old Statistical Account, the minister of Bolton states it was only "an old building very thick in the walls", and by 1804 the Heritors had agreed that something should be done.  They decided that the church "required to be wholey new seated". The initial plans involved erecting a gallery with three lofts.  However, at a meeting in 1805, the Heritors took account of warnings regarding the weakness of the church walls: "It is for the interest of the Heritors that a new church should be erected instead of repairing the old one. They therefore resolve that a new church shall be built capable of containing 250 people". (In 1791 the population of the parish was 235, increasing to 323 in 1835.)  The lofts are still a feature of the church and were originally allocated to the three estates in the parish: Colstoun, Lennoxlove, and Eaglescairnie.

For the next three years, the Heritors negotiated with architects and contractors but a meeting in late 1809 recorded that, "as it appears that some parts of the church are not yet finished, the Heritors do not consider themselves as authorised to take the church off the hands of the contractors ... The meeting therefore adjourns this present meeting to Wednesday 8th November, by which time they desire ... a more particular report informing the meeting of the church being completely furnished, pointing out every deviation from the specification and stating that the work of every kind is not only  tolerably but
perfectly sufficient" (emphases in original manuscript).  Their firm resolve clearly had the desired result - by the time of their next meeting, the Heritors had a satisfactory report from the experts and agreed to take the Church off the contractors’ hands. One person who was very much involved with the building of the new church was Gilbert Burns, brother of the poet and factor to Lord Blantyre. Burns undertook many of the dealings with the architects and tradesmen, and the church, along with the family tombstone in the churchyard, can be considered as his memorial.

There have been further changes since Burns’ day: in 1930, the pulpit was moved from its central position below the east window to its present location, the sanctuary platform was extended to the full width of the church, and the choir seats removed; in 1957, the present central aisle was introduced.  Since then, chairs have been added for the Communion Table.  The minister’s chair was the gift of the late Norman Manclark of Monkrigg; elders’ chairs were presented in memory of the late Sir Humphrey Broun Lindsay by his sister, and others were gifted by the Wallace and MacGregor families. 


THE BURNS GRAVE
In 1800, Robert Burns’ younger brother, Gilbert, moved to East Lothian with his wife, Jean, and their eleven children, his widowed mother, Agnes, his sister, and his more famous brother’s first child, his love-begotten daughter, Elizabeth.  Gilbert worked on the Lennoxlove estate and the family lived at nearby Grant’s Braes.   Gilbert erected the tombstone in the churchyard where several of the family are buried.  One of their sons, Rev Dr Thomas Burns, was a founding father of Dunedin in New Zealand.  The Haddington Burns Club has planted a red rose beside the grave and there is now a Burns Heritage Trail from Haddington, past Grant’s Braes and ending at the grave.


FROM THE KIRK SESSION RECORDS
The Session's main responsibility was to its parishioners, some of whom received a modest annual pension.  Occasionally, the records also show entries to "a distrest stranger", demonstrating the giving of alms to the poor.  This was usually about sixpence (21/2p in modern currency).

In addition, the Session acted as a moral court, disciplining perceived misdemeanours.  Records refer to parishioners being "compeared", which usually involved being the subject of the sermon and sitting on the stool of repentance for successive Sundays.


HISTORIC ARTEFACTS
In 1783, the Session agreed to buy a "new fashionable herse" at a cost of £37.15.6, from funds reserved for the relief of the poor.  Uniquely, an extra section was later added to the hearse as people’s diets improved and they grew taller, requiring longer coffins.  The Bolton Hearse is now on display in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.  The Hearse Hoose (now in private ownership) can still be seen in the corner of the churchyard – note its eye-catching weather-vane. 

Mention of the hearse leads to another grim relic of the past: the grave-guard, displayed in the church porch.  As the name implies, this was designed to thwart body snatchers, who stole newly-buried corpses to sell to the Medical School in Edinburgh.

At one time there were two communion cups of Canongate silver, dated 1690, but later sold.  One is now in the National Museum of Scotland, and the other is in Huntly House Museum on Edinburgh’s Canongate.

However, still in the church’s possession is a pewter basin, inscribed This is for the Kirk of Boultyn 1692, and used today for baptisms. It is thought to be an early piece of Scottish pewter, representing the only known extant work of the Haddington pewterer Simon Sawyers, a pupil of John Hay.  (It is not kept on display.)

In the south-east corner of the graveyard there are two stone steps leading down to a steep hillside.  This was where the lepers could come into the churchyard by a back way and listen to the service through a hole in the church wall, thus avoiding contact with any members of the congregation.  They lived in the nearby colony of Meal-Poke Brae, so-called because local folk would leave them a ‘poke’, or bag, of meal by the burn at the foot of the hill.

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INTO THE FUTURE
The writer in the Third Statistical Account was perhaps being unduly negative in emphasising that in 1953 Bolton had "no village, no railway station, no shop, no post office, no public house and no police station".  (Nowadays he could have added, no school).  This is true; but it is also true that those who live and worship here are very aware of their connection with past generations and continue to share a strong sense of community. 

Information about the engravings on the tombstones in Bolton graveyard can be found here.

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​Saltoun Church

​A church dedicated to St Michael was first consecrated in Saltoun in 1244.  However, one hundred years before then, Hugo de Moreville, one of King David l’s Norman friends, had granted lands and rights in Saltoun to the monks of Dryburgh and these were retained until the Reformation.

After the publication of the Book of Discipline in 1560, the church began to have a much more powerful influence over people’s everyday lives, and records show that in 1627 there were between four and five hundred communicants in Saltoun.

In 1643 the living (ie the laird’s right to choose the minister) belonged to Sir Andrew Fletcher, Lord Innerpeffer, when he acquired the estate of Saltoun.  In 1653, during the temporary establishment of Episcopacy, this was transferred to the Bishop of Edinburgh. 

And it was in the seventeenth century, Saltoun Church, or rather its ministers, began to make a mark on history. In 1659 Rev Patrick Scougall was appointed by Parliament as a commissioner for the trial of witches in nearby Samuelston.  This tiny village was one of Scotland’s major centres of witchcraft and in 1661 Scougall and the other commissioners supervised the burning of thirteen unfortunate women whom they found to be witches.  Scougall left Saltoun in 1664 to become Bishop of Aberdeen.

When Scougall left, he recommended that Sir Robert Fletcher should offer the living of Saltoun, "regarded as one of the best benefices of these parts", to the young Gilbert Burnet.  Burnet was born in Edinburgh in 1643 and had studied at Aberdeen’s Marischal College.  He worked in the parish as a probationer for four months: "I resolved to know all the parish and to be known of them before I would engage myself to them."  They all came without any exception to me and desired me to labour among them.  Burnet was ordained as a priest in 1665, two weeks after the death of his patron, Sir Robert Fletcher, who left the education of his two young sons, Andrew (who later achieved fame as The Patriot) and Henry, in Burnet’s hands.

Gilbert Burnet was a conscientious and devoted parish minister: he went through the Bible to consider all the texts proper to be preached on; he preached twice on Sundays and once during the week; he visited everyone at least twice a year and the sick every day; he also catechised the whole parish four times a year.  This was in addition to his duties as tutor to the young Fletchers, his interest in the poor – to whom he gave liberally – and in the education of the youth of the parish. 

Under Burnet’s ministry, the congregation increased and the church was enlarged.  It was a "plain building, oblong in shape, without spire or tower, in length 66 feet.  A low stone wall divided the nave from the choir, in which were the pulpit and the seats for the gentry.  There was an earthen floor, the roof was covered with (turf) divots, there were no fixed seats or pews in the nave and each worshipper provided a seat, usually a three-legged stool."  There were small windows of half wood and half glass.  (TES Clarke & HC Foxcroft, A Life of Gilbert Burnet, 1907)  There was no heating and the men (including the minister) only took their hats off to pray.  In 1665 Lady Fletcher was granted permission by Presbytery to build an aisle with a chamber in it where she and her children could retire to refresh themselves between sermons.  The manse, which had been built in 1659, was regarded by Burnet as "not only convenient but noble . . . (with) a well-stocked garden, an excellent glebe and stabling".

In 1669 Burnet left to become Professor of Divinity at Glasgow University.  His parting gift to his congregation was two silver communion cups, still in use today. From Glasgow, Burnet went south to London where his outspoken and controversial views on the unsettled political situation led to his voluntary exile in Holland.  He returned to this country with William of Orange and became his chaplain, friend and adviser on Scottish affairs.  In 1689 he was made Bishop of Salisbury, with a seat in the House of Lords, and he held this important position until his death in 1715.  Burnet’s writings, including his well-known A History of My Own Time, are a vivid contemporary record of the world in which he lived. 

In his will Burnet left 20,000 merks in trust to the lairds of Saltoun and Herdmanston and to the incumbent, "in kind gratitude to that parish which had the first fruits of my labour, and among whose people I had all possible kindness and encouragement".  The interest from this bequest was to be used for the education and clothing of thirty children of the poorest sort, for the erection of a new school-house and the augmentation of the schoolmaster’s salary, "for relieving the wants of the necessitous poor", and for adding fresh volumes to the library.

The library mentioned in Burnet’s will is probably one of the oldest private libraries in Scotland.  It was founded c1660 by the bequest of Norman Leslie, who had been tutor to Sir Robert Fletcher and his brother. Burnet added some of his own books to the collection, which has become known as the Burnet Library.  It includes rare Covenanting and Presbyterian literature (including works by Calvin), a rare edition of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs presented by Lady Saltoun, scarce editions of English classics and early editions of James Boswell, David Hume and Adam Smith, as well as tracts and pamphlets by Francis Bacon and Daniel Defoe.  Following the sale of Saltoun manse, the library is currently being catalogued in the National Library of Scotland where it should eventually be available to anyone wishing to refer to it.

The Minutes of Saltoun Kirk Session date back to 1653 and make fascinating reading.  The entry for 6 September 1719 reads, "This day a proclamation by the King against immorality, vice and profaneness was read in the Congregation and the Minister seriously exhorted the people to piety and virtue."  In general, the Minutes were a Book of Discipline and were more concerned with morals of the parishioners than with efforts to increase the size of the congregation or raise funds for the upkeep of the building.  During the service, the elders were often sent to search the village, especially the public houses, for non-attenders.  The Session also dealt with ‘irregular’ marriages; births out of – or too early in – wedlock; set fines for scandalous behaviour; issued public rebukes for adultery, fornication and drunkenness; and awarded certificates of freedom from public scandal.

The church was rebuilt in 1805, probably by the architect Robert Burn.  It is in the form of a cross, one arm occupied by a Gothic-style tower, and another by the laird’s aisle, which lies above the Fletcher vault. There is a chimney at each gable behind the battlements, indicating that there was originally a fireplace in each gallery.  (The galleries were removed in 1885.)  The spire was erected by General John Fletcher-Campbell as "a monument to the virtue of his ancestors, and an example for their posterity to imitate".  It is said to be the highest in East Lothian and is certainly a landmark for miles around.  Its height from ground level is 99 feet, thus avoiding the tax once payable on spires of 100 feet or over. 

The only changes to the building since these nineteenth century improvements have been the engraving of capital letters around the outside walls, to provide a key to the burial plots, and the addition of a clock.  This was given by his widow in memory of the schoolmaster John Halliday, who died in 1876.  It came to be called after her, villagers looking to Auld Kate when they wanted to know the time.

In 1929 the parishes of Bolton and Saltoun were united under one minister and in 1979 they were further linked with the adjoining parishes of Yester and Humbie.  The manse at Saltoun was sold and the minister for the four parishes lives in Gifford.  When the manse was sold, the stable block was retained and now houses meeting rooms and a tiny folk museum displaying documents and artefacts from Saltoun’s past.  2015 has seen a further union with Yester, Bolton and Saltoun becoming one congregation, linked with Humbie.

Information about the engravings on the tombstones in Saltoun graveyard can be found here.

Information about men from Bolton and Saltoun who fell in the World Wars is available here.