John Huntar was a Scottish farmer who kept livestock in

Holyrood Park Holyrood Park (also called the Queen's Park or King's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender) is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It is open to the public. It has an array of hills, loc ...

for

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

. Huntar was a burgess of the

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. It began ...

, a district of Edinburgh which then had a separate administration. He became keeper of Holyrood Park during the regency of

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (french: Marie de Guise; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. She ...

and was paid a fee of £20 Scots. In 1559 and 1560 he built a house in the park, constructed a section of the park dyke, and employed masons and other labourers to repair boundaries, some of which had been destroyed by the villagers of

Duddingston Duddingston ( sco, Duddiston) is a historic village in the east of Edinburgh, Scotland, next to Holyrood Park. Origins and etymology The estate wherein Duddingston Village now lies was first recorded in lands granted to the Tironensian monks ...

. In 1563 he provided mutton to the royal household and bought and drove 77 cattle to Holyrood Park. 80 sheep were bought, and a barrel of tar and tallow was bought (to treat their feet). In 1564 he provided meat to the royal household and 24 stones of wool worth £25 to the exchequer. Huntar became the leaseholder of Holyrood Park on 20 March 1565, and was contracted to repair the boundary dykes and drainage ditches around the meadows. The lands included the Abbot's meadow and a marshy area extending towards

Restalrig Restalrig () is a small residential suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland (historically, an estate and independent parish). It is located east of the city centre, west of Craigentinny and to the east of Lochend, both of which it overlaps. Restalrig ...

. In March 1567 Queen Mary upgraded his terms and he was to make improvements in Holyrood park, including planting broom to feed the sheep. His wife Margaret Aikman died in 1570. A valley on Arthur's Seat is called Hunter's Bog. It is unclear if it is named after John Huntar.

James V and the royal flock

Mary's father,

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of James IV of Sco ...

kept sheep in Ettrick Forest, at Crawford Muir, and Thornton. Ettrick wool was stored in a loft in Selkirk, and then transported to Edinburgh and

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

. Robert Liddale was master of the flocks. The chronicle writer

Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie (also Lindesay or Lyndsay; c. 1532–1580) was a Scottish chronicler, author of ''The Historie and Chronicles of Scotland, 1436–1565'', the first history of Scotland to be composed in Scots rather than Lati ...

claimed that Andrew Bell kept a royal flock of 10,000 in the formerly lawless Ettrick Forest. Wool from the royal steadings and farms was stored in the "foir loft" of the

King's Wark John Chisholm, 16th-century Scottish soldier and chief officer, Comptroller and ''Prefect'' of the Scottish artillery for Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI of Scotland, and keeper of the King's Wark in Leith. Chisholm was a supporter of Mary, Que ...

at Leith in September 1537. The English ambassador

Ralph Sadler Sir Ralph Sadler or Sadleir Privy Council of England, PC, Knight banneret (1507 – 30 March 1587) was an English statesman, who served Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII as Privy Council of England, Privy Councillor, Secretary of State (England) ...

tried to encourage James V to close the monasteries and take their revenue so that he would not have to keep sheep like a mean subject. James replied that he had no sheep, he could depend on his god-father the King of France, and it was against reason to close abbeys that "stand these many years, and God's service maintained and kept in the same, and I might have anything I require of them." Sadler knew that James did farm sheep on his estates. After James' death 600 sheep were given to James Douglass of Drumlanrig.''HMC 15th Report: Duke of Buccleuch'' (London, 1897), p. 17.

References

{{Reflist

James V and the royal flock

References

Further reading