GARVALD

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer (1868)

"GARVALD, (and Baro) a parish and post town in county Haddington, Scotland, 5 miles S.E. of the town of Haddington. It is situated partly on the Lammermuir, and is bordered by the parishes of Yester, Morham, and Whittingham, and the county of Berwick. It is 12 miles long by 4 wide. The surface is hilly, containing part of the Lammermuir hills. The soil in the N. is rich and highly cultivated, and there is a considerable proportion of sheep-walk. Four streams rise among the hills and water the interior. This parish is in the presbytery of Haddington and synod of Lothian and Tweeddale, in the patronage of the Marquis of Tweeddale and the crown. The minister has a stipend of £189, with a glebe of 14 Scotch acres. The church is of ancient foundation, but underwent some alterations in 1829. Here are a Free church, a parish school, and library. The quondam parish of Baro was annexed to Garvald in 1702. The church and its possessions of Garvald belonged to a Cistercian nunnery founded in the time of Malcolm IV. It afterwards belonged to Holyrood Abbey, and in 1633 it was included in the bishopric of Edinburgh. Hopes and Nunraw are the principal seats: the latter was originally a religious house established by the Cistercian sisters. The Marquis of Tweeddale, Earl Wemyss, Balfour of Whittingham, and the Hays of Hopes, Linplum, and Nunraw are the landowners of this parish. The ruins of White Castle are seen among the Lammermuir hills. Here are also the ruins of Yester Castle, in which is a curious chamber called the Hobgoblin Hall: it is entered by a flight of steps, and is the subject of some idle superstition. There are remains of a fort at Carfrae, and two or three others are observed in the parish. Good freestone is quarried near the village.

[Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003]