Yester Castle

From the Giffards to the Hays

The estate’s history predates the surviving stone ruins. In 1166 William I, the Lion, confirmed a grant of the lands of Yester to Hugh Giffard. This records land ownership, rather than an exact construction date for the present castle.

Goblin Hall is interpreted as the surviving lower storey of a 13th-century tower. During later changes to the castle, its upper structure disappeared and the chamber was covered over. The walls visible today therefore belong to more than one period: the eastern residential range is dated to the end of the 15th century.

In the 14th century the lands passed from the Giffards to the Hay family, who remained connected with Yester for centuries.

Between Scotland and England

In 1311 Yester was held by a constable serving Edward II of England, a documented episode in the Wars of Scottish Independence.

The events of 1548 are recorded in greater detail. On 24 February Lord Grey of Wilton took the castle and entrusted it to Sir George Douglas with fifty men. By late April Grey reported a Spanish garrison resisting the English at Haddington: Yester had evidently been recovered by the Scottish-French forces. In June English correspondence referred to a French prisoner captured at Yester, indicating another English takeover.

This was the Rough Wooing, the war linked to attempts to impose a marriage between Mary, Queen of Scots, and the English heir. Today’s quiet ruins were then part of the struggle for control of East Lothian.

What survives inside Goblin Hall

The chamber measures roughly 11.3 m by 4 m. Its pointed stone vault is reinforced by substantial ribs. Remains of a fireplace and beam sockets for a former timber floor show that the interior was used and once divided into two levels.

The purpose of some lower passages remains uncertain. Describing the lower space as a well is a historical interpretation, rather than a conclusively established function.

The end of the castle residence

Yester ceased to serve as the principal residence during the 16th century, but the exact date remains uncertain. The older inventory places its abandonment as a residence after the Reformation. The later Yester House is a separate residence, rather than a restoration of these ruins.