Yair House
| Yair House | |
| Selkirkshire | |
|---|---|
 Yair House | |
| Location | |
| Location: | 55°35’10"N, 2°52’10"W |
| History | |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
Yair House is a country house in Selkirkshire within the estate known as Yair, and named after it. It is found two and a half miles north-west of Selkirk. The house was built in 1788 by Alexander Pringle, who made his fortune in India.
The house is a category A listed building.[1] The nearby Yair Bridge is also category A listed.[2]
Yair House is not open to the public, theough the gardesn are occasionally opened for charity as part of the Scotland's Gardens Scheme.[3]
Estate
- Main article: Yair
Yair, also known as The Yair, is the estate on which stands Yair House. The estate runs beside the River Tweed in Selkirkshire
The name of the estate comes from the old Scots word for a fish trap.
History
In 1156, King Malcolm IV allowed the monks of Kelso Abbey to build a dam on the River Tweed, creating a pool for fishing.[4]
Kelso Abbey was dissolved at the Reformation in the late 16th century. The Yair estate was acquired by the Pringle family, whose lands included Whytbank Tower on the north side of the river. In the early 18th century the estates were sold to pay debts.[5] However late in that century Alexander Pringle of Whytbank (1747–1827) returned from India having made his fortune and repurchased the family estates.
In 1788 Alexander Pringle built Yair House on the estate. It is of the style of the age, a Georgian house of three storeys, with a large bay to the front.[1] The designer of the new house was William Elliot,[5] a Kelso-based architect who designed The Haining in Selkirk, for another Pringle, in 1794.[6]
Yair Bridge
Yair Bridge is a three-arch stone bridge which stands 650 yards downstream from Yair House. It was built around 1764, and designed by the Edinburgh architect William Mylne (1734–1790).
The bridge now carries the A707 road across the Tweed.[2][7]
Yair Hill Forest
Yair Hill Forest is one of many forests in the Middle Shires managed by the Forestry Commission. It is spreads over Craig Hill (1,253 feet) and Three Brethren (1,588 feet) to the south and west of the house. Three Brethren is named after three stone mounds built in the 16th century by the lairds of Yair, Philiphaugh and Selkirk, to mark the boundaries of their respective lands.[8]
Access to the forest is at Lindinney car park on the A707, close to Yair Bridge. The Yair Grazings car park, at the north-west edge of the forest, allows access to Yair Wood, and nearby Glenkinnon car park is the access point for a biodiversity trail.[4] Part of the forest is Lindinny Community Woodland, which is being restored from coniferous to native woodland by FCS and the Borders Forest Trust.[9]
Walking and leisure
The Southern Upland Way passes through the estate, descending from Three Brethren and crossing Yair Bridge. The Sir Walter Scott Way follows the same route.
Below Yair is the Fairnilee slalom site on the River Tweed, used for canoe slalom.
The Yair and the River Tweed generally remain popular salmon fishing sites.
Outside links
- CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Yair House
- Yair House: Clan Pringle Association
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yair House: Listed Building Report (Historic Scotland)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yair Bridge: Listed Building Report (Historic Scotland)
- ↑ Scotland's Gardens Scheme: The Yair
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Yair Forest". Forestry Commission Scotland. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/ScotlandScottishBordersForestsoftheScottishBordersYair. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Yair". Gazetteer for Scotland. http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst5210.html. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ↑ The Haining, Selkirkshire: The New House Haining Charitable Trust
- ↑ "Yair Bridge". Gazetteer for Scotland. http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst17767.html. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ↑ "Three Brethren Trail". Forestry Commission Scotland. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/ourwoods.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/ScotlandScottishBordersForestsoftheScottishBordersYairLindinneyCarParkThreeBrethrenTrail. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
- ↑ "Lindinny Community Woodland". Borders Community Woodland Forum. http://www.woodsforpeople.org/fx.bcwf/scheme/woodlands-lindinny.aspx. Retrieved 23 September 2011.