Yester Parish Church is a church of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

in the village of Gifford,

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The village forms part of Yester, Bolton and Saltoun parish, and is a linked charge with

Humbie Parish Church Humbie Parish Church is a church in the small village of Humbie, East Lothian, Scotland. It is part of the Church of Scotland, and is a linked charge which joins the parishes of Bolton & Saltoun, Yester and Humbie. The church lies to the north o ...

History and design

Several church buildings have been used during the history of the parish. The earliest record of a church in the area (St Bathan's Chapel) is from 1241. Its ruins lie in the woods beside

Yester House Yester House is an early 18th-century mansion near Gifford in East Lothian, Scotland. It was the home of the Hay family, later Marquesses of Tweeddale, from the 15th century until the late 1960s. Construction of the present house began in 1699, ...

, to the south-west of the village centre. A church also once stood at Duncanlaw, a former settlement to the south-east of the main village. The present building dates to 1708, and stands towards the north of the village, at the main road junction, just behind the village war memorial. The church is a Category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Notable graves

* Lord John Hay, Admiral of the Fleet (1827-1916) (memorial only) *

William Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale William Montagu Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale, KT, DL (29 January 1826 – 25 November 1911), known before 1878 as Lord William Hay or Lord William Montagu Hay, was a Scottish landowner, peer and politician. He was born at Yester House, near ...

*David George Montagu Hay, 12th

Marquess of Tweeddale Marquess of Tweeddale (sometimes spelled ''Tweedale'') is a title of the Peerage of Scotland, created in 1694 for the 2nd Earl of Tweeddale. Lord Tweeddale holds the subsidiary titles of Earl of Tweeddale (created 1646), Earl of Gifford (1694), ...

John Witherspoon

Rev.

John Witherspoon John Witherspoon (February 5, 1723 – November 15, 1794) was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, slaveholder, and a Founding Father of the United States. Witherspoon embraced the concepts of Scottish common sense real ...

was born in Gifford manse in 1723, the son of Rev. James Alexander Witherspoon, the local minister. John Witherspoon emigrated and became a major leader of the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, Protestant tradition named for its form of ecclesiastical polity, church government by representative assemblies of Presbyterian polity#Elder, elders, known as ...

in America. He was the only clergyman to sign the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

References

* ''Yester Parish and Church - Leaflet for Visitors'', Gifford, 2001 {{coord, 55.90376, N, 2.74565, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Churches in East Lothian Church of Scotland churches in Scotland Category A listed buildings in East Lothian Listed churches in Scotland Churches completed in 1708 1708 establishments in Scotland

History and design

Notable graves

John Witherspoon

See also

References