Yair, also known as The Yair, is an estate in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

. It stands by the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

in the former county of Selkirkshire, north-west of Selkirk, and south of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. The name comes from the old Scots word for a fish trap. The estate is centred on Yair House, which is protected as a category A listed building. The nearby Yair Bridge is also category A listed.

History

In 1156 King Malcolm allowed the monks of Kelso to build a dam on the River Tweed, creating a pool for fishing. Yair House was built by Alexander Pringle of Whytbank (1747–1827) in 1788. It is a Georgian house of three storeys, with a large bay to the front. Pringle made his fortune in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and re-purchased the family estates on his return. These estates, which included Whytbank Tower on the north side of the river, had been Pringle property since the 16th century, but were sold in the early 18th century to pay debts. The designer of the new house was William Elliot, a Kelso-based architect who designed The Haining in Selkirk, for another Pringle, in 1794. The house was the home to Sir Kenneth and Lady Louisa Mary Anderson. Louisa's companion in later life was the Australian Phoebe Wesche and she gifted Caddonfoot Hall to the local community in 1929. Yair Bridge - geograph

Yair Bridge lies downstream from the house. It was constructed around 1764, and designed by the Edinburgh architect William Mylne (1734–1790). The three-arch stone bridge now carries the A707 across the Tweed.

Outdoor access

Yair Hill Forest is one of many forests in the Borders managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS). It is located to the south and west of the house on Craig Hill (382m) and on Three Brethren (484m). 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 lands. 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 Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

trail. Part of the forest is Lindinny Community Woodland, which is being restored from coniferous to native woodland by FCS and the Borders Forest Trust. 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 Canoe slalom (previously known as whitewater slalom) is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a Spraydeck, decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on Whitewater, river rapids in the fastest time pos ...

. The Yair and the

generally remain popular

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

fishing sites. Yair House is not open to the public, though the gardens are occasionally opened for charity as part of Scotland's Gardens Scheme.

References

External links

*
Yair House
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland
Yair House
Clan Pringle Association {{authority control Houses completed in 1788 Country houses in the Scottish Borders Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders Listed houses in Scotland Selkirkshire River Tweed 1788 establishments in Scotland

History

Outdoor access

See also

References

External links