Old Photographs Gifford Scotland

Old photograph of houses, church and Market Cross in Gifford, East Lothian, Scotland. The Mercat Cross was built in 1780 and is still standing in the centre of the village. The church was built in 1710. The initial chief industry in the town was the paper mill, which was once the source of the Bank of Scotland's bank notes. However, this mill closed in the late 18th century. The village takes its name from the 13th century Sir Hugo de Giffard of Yester, whose ancient Scoto Norman family possessed the baronies of Yester, Morham, and Duncanlaw in Haddingtonshire, and Tayling and Poldame in the counties of Perthshire and Forfar. The initial chief industry in the town was the paper mill, which was once the source of the Bank of Scotland's bank notes. However, this mill closed in the late 18th century. The earliest recorded presence of a church in the area is in 1241, the present church in the centre of the village was built in 1710. Gifford was the terminus on a branch railway operated by the North British Railway and then the London and North Eastern Railway. The section of line to Gifford was closed in 1947. John Knox, the famous reformer of Scotland, was born in Gifford in 1505. Reverend John Witherspoon, was born in Gifford in 1723. He studied at the Haddington Grammar School, gained a Master of Arts from the University of Edinburgh in 1739, and was a Presbyterian minister in Beith, Ayrshire, before accepting an offer from Princeton in New Jersey, America, to be their 6th President. He was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration of Independence of the United States, on 4 July 1776. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



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