Yester Castle

Located 1½ miles (2.5 km) southeast of Gifford in East Lothian, Yester Castle was built in 1297 by Hugo de Gifford, the so-called Wizard of Yester. Beneath is the sizeable Goblin Ha', where Gifford is said to have made magic. This name is echoed in a small hotel in the village of Gifford and the goblins were immortalised in Sir Walter Scott's Marmion. The castle passed to the Hay family through marriage in the 14th Century and in a similar fashion to so many others, it was abandoned after the Hays moved to the more comfortable surroundings of a new home on the site of the present Yester House. Today the castle lies a ruin on the margins of the Yester Estate owned by the italian composer Gian Carlo Menotti.


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