Bara, anciently spelt Baro, is an agricultural parish in

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, which adjoins the parish of Garvald to the east, and

Lauder The former Royal Burgh of Lauder (, ) is a town in the Scottish Borders in the historic county of Berwickshire. On the Southern Upland Way, the burgh lies southeast of Edinburgh, on the western edge of the Lammermuir Hills. Etymology Alt ...

across the

Lammermuir Hills The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name ''Lammermuir'' comes from the Old English , meaning "moorland of the lambs". Geology The Lammermuir Hills a ...

. It is south-west of Haddington. About 1340, Robert de Lawder, Justiciary, was a witness, with James Lord Douglas, Robert de Keith, Henry St.Clair, Alexander de Seaton, all knights, plus the "Lord" William, Rector of the parish of

Morham Morham, East Lothian, sometimes spelt Moram, Morum, or Morhame in old records, is the smallest (agricultural) parish in Scotland, sandwiched between five other parishes: Haddington, East Lothian, Haddington, Garvald, East Lothian, Garvald, Yester ...

, East Lothian, to a charter of Euphemia, the widow of Sir John Giffard, Lord of Yester, relating to the tenement of land of 'Barow'. This was once a separate community and parish, with its own church and graveyard, which stood in a corner of Linplum farm to this day called kirk field. In 1743, part of the roof of the ancient church collapsed. The community was in some decline and the Presbytery decided not to repair the church but to conjoin the parish with adjoining Garvald, notwithstanding the fact that

church was slightly closer. The

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

was on the north side of the road leading to Garvald and the manse stood where, in 1890, the Bara blacksmith's premises stood. The superiority of the parish was long in the hands of the Hays of Yester family and their cadets, and following the demise of Bara Kirk, Robert Hay, of Bara & Linplum, enclosed the churchyard with a wall and planted it with trees and shrubs. Some of the church ruins are extant and just a few of the original headstones in the totally overgrown graveyard. Some of the older headstones were readable in the 19th century and half a dozen appear in John Martine's book.''Fourteen Parishes of the County of Haddington'', by John Martine, Edinburgh, 1890 Others were transcribed in the 1950s. The community has today all but disappeared with the demise of agricultural labour, although numerous farms still exist: Carfrae, Duncanlaw, Bara, Linplum, Snawdon, Little Newton, Quarryford, Newlands, Castlemains, Danskin, Brokside, and East & West Hopes.

References

External links

* Villages in East Lothian {{EastLothian-geo-stub