Civil History
Estates and Properties
The two principal properties in this parish, in former times, were the estates of Corstorphine and Gogar, which, for a long series of years, were occupied by influential families. The first noticed proprietors of Corstorphine are, David le Mareschall, in the reign of Alexander II, and Thomas le Mareschall and William de la Roche, whose names occur in Ragman's Roll of 1296. The family of the two former continued in possession of that estate till the reign of David II, when it was forfeited by David le Mareschall, and given by the King to Malcolm Ramsay. It was next held by William More of Abercorne, who disponed it to his brother, Gilchrist More, by whom it was sold, in August 1576, to Adam Forrester, Burgess of Edinburgh, in whose family it remained down to the year 1698. This family is so interwoven with the history of the parish, and conferred on
it so many benefits, that we cannot pass them over without some further detail. The founder, Adam Forrester, was a successful merchant in Edinburgh, and probably acquired the greater part of his fortune in the reign of David II by trading with England. In the Rotuli Scotiae, we find a license granted to him to bring grain into Scotland without payment of duty. In the same reign, he acquired the lands of Whitburn and Niddreff, and in the following several additional estates. In 1373, he was Provost of Edinburgh, and in 1382, Sheriff of Lothian. He was frequently employed in embassies to England, and seems to have been held In much esteem by King Robert III, who made him Keeper of the Great Seal in 1390. In 1402, he was present at the Battle of Homildon Hill, and having been taken prisoner, was, along with several of the most illustrious prisoners, presented to King Henry IV in full Parliament, where he acted as spokesman for the others. During the last year of his life, he was Depute Chamberlain of the southern division of the kingdom, under the Earl of Buchan. His first wife was Agnes, daughter of John Dundas of Fingask; and he was afterwards married to a lady whose Christian name was Margaret, who survived him about twenty years. He died in 1404, and was buried in the chapel of St John the Baptist at Corstorphine. The stone which originally covered his remains, was built into the west wall of the session-house, and has on it an inscription, now almost defaced, commencing "Hic jacet Adam Forstar."
Sir John Forrester, his eldest son, was brought up at Court, and succeeded his father in the situation of Depute-Chamberlain of the southern division of the kingdom. He obtained a charter to the estate of Corstorphine from William More of Abercorne, then the superior, on 22nd March 1392, which was probably on the occasion of his marriage. After 1408, he acted as Depute-Chamberlain of the whole kingdom, under the Earl of Buchan, who seems to have devolved upon him all the duties of the office of High Chamberlain. In this situation he continued down to the year 1425; but in that interval he held also several other appointments. In 1416, he was named one of the Commissioners to treat with England for the King's liberty, and in 1421 he was made Lord Privy: Seal. His crown charter to the estates of Corstorphine, Drylaw, Nether Liberton, Meadowfield, and Clerkington, erecting them into the Barony of Corstorphine, is dated 10th July 1424; and in the same year he was one of the hostages given for the King's ransom. As a remuneration for his numerous services, on the King's return to Scotland, a new office was created for him under the name of Magister Hospitii, Master of the Horse, and in the following year he was made Lord High Chamberlain. It was at this period of his life, that he founded and endowed the Collegiate Church of Corstorphine.
Sir John Forrester was three times married. The surname of his first wife, Margaret, is unknown, but the second was Lady Jean St. Clair, daughter of the first Earl of Orkney, and his third was Marian Stewart, daughter of Sir Walter Stewart of Garlies, and relict of Sir John Stewart of Jedworth. He died in 1440, and was buried in the chancel of the collegiate church.
Sir John Forrester, his eldest son, seems to have been better fitted for the field of battle than for the cabinet, and does not appear to have held any civil appointment. He took part with the Earls of Douglas in their struggles with the Chancellor Crichton and Livingston, and led the troops which besieged and demolished Brankston Castle in 1446. His sasine in the estate of Corstorphine is dated 15th September 1436; he was also buried in the chancel of the collegiate church, and the stone figure above his grave represents a man of Herculean mould.
Sir Alexander Forrester, the next proprietor of Corstorphine, appears to have been strongly actuated by the superstition of the age in which he lived, for he led two separate pilgrimages to the shrines of Thomas a Becket at Canterbury, and John de Amyace in Picardie, the former in 1464, and the latter In 1466. On both occasions, he was accompanied by Sir John Lauder of Halton and several other of the neighbouring proprietors, and they took with them thirty followers.
Archibald Forrester, his son, was infeft in Corstorphine on 20th February 1467, and is mentioned as present in Parliament on 7th of January 1504-5; his son, Alexander Forrester, obtained a charter under the Great Seal to the Barony of Corstorphine on 12th September 1533.
James Forrester got Meadowfield from his father on 13th January 1538, and afterwards succeeded to the rest of the Barony of Corstorphine.
Sir James Forrester was very young when his father died, and was served heir to him in February 1547. Besides the Barony of Corstorphine, he had the lands of Nether Bernton, Thirleston, and Lowriston; he died in 1589 without leaving any issue, and was succeeded by his only brother,
Henry Forrester, who took possession of Corstorphine on 8th November 1589. On 23rd June 1607, he resigned the Barony of Corstorphine in favour of his son,
George Forrester, who obtained a Crown charter in his own favour on 15th November 1607. He was made a Baronet in 1625, and a Peer on 11th July 1633, under the title of Lord Forrester of Corstorphine. He was an elder of the parish for many years, and attended most faithfully to the duties of the office. He died on 23rd April 1651, leaving five daughters. He entailed his estates of Corstorphine, &c. on James Baillie, younger of Torwoodhead, who married Joanna, his fourth daughter, and their heirs, whom failing, on William Baillie of the same family, who married Lillias, his fifth daughter, and their heirs, and the patent of his peerage was granted to the same series of heirs.
In virtue of these destinations, James Baillie became Lord Forrester of Corstorphine. He was an ardent royalist, and was actively engaged with his party during the time of the Commonwealth. Nicol, in his Diary, mentions that, on one occasion, while Cromwell's soldiers were in Edinburgh, Lord Forrester issued a proclamation, which was affixed to the most considerable close heidis, and upon all the public places in Edinburgh, calling on all
persons residing in Mid-Lothian to put forth horse according to their rents for the King's army. He was fined by Cromwell, L. 2500 Sterling, and his estate was overrun and destroyed by the English troops. In consequence of these proceedings his affairs became involved, and, being unable to pay the provisions left to his mother and sisters, and the debts of the first Lord, the rents of his estate of Corstorphine were attached by numerous creditors. He became very dissipated and abandoned in his character, frequently spending days drinking in an alehouse in the village of Corstorphine. On one of these occasions, he was sent for by Christian Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton of Orange, and wife of an Edinburgh merchant, named Andrew Nimmo, with whom he had carried on an intrigue, and who had come out to visit him at Corstorphine Castle. He was unwilling to obey the summons, and she being a person of a violent and ungovernable temper, was on her way to the alehouse to enforce his attention, when they met near the Pigeon House, to the east of the castle, and a quarrel ensued, when she murdered him with his own sword. This happened on 26th August 1679.* There being no issue alive of his marriage with Joanna Forrester, his brother,
William Baillie, succeeded to his estates and titles. He died in 1684, and was succeeded by his son, William, the fourth Lord Forrester; but Corstorphine was so burdened that they probably never drew any part of the rents, although the family continued to reside in the castle till about 1698. On 19th December 1679, Hugh Wallace; of Ingliston, W.S., who had accumulated in his person the whole debts burdening the estate, obtained a charter, under the Great Seal, of the Barony of Corstorphine, and his title was ratified by Lord Forrester in November 1698. On 26th July 1701, he sold the estate to Sir Robert Dickson of Sornebeg, whose title was also ratified by William Lord Forrester and the Master of Forrester on 2nd January 1703. Sir Robert Dickson of Inveresk succeeded to his father in May 1712, and in the beginning of 1713, sold the estate to Sir James Dick of Prestonfield, in whose family it still remains. As this family had another mansion-house at Prestonfield, where they lived, there was no resident proprietor of Corstorphine after 1713; and in 1720, we find Sir Francis Grant, one of the Senators of the College of Justice, had taken a lease of the castle for a series of years, and resided there during the vacations of the Court.
The estate of Gogar was given by King Robert Bruce to his companion in arms, Alexander Seton, but how long he or his successors retained it does not appear. In 1409, Walter de Haliburton of Dirleton disponed the lands and miln of Gogar to his brother, George de Haliburton, and his title was confirmed by a charter of Robert Duke of Albany on 11th May 1411. In 1516, the lands of Gogar were held by Robert Logan of Restalrig, and they are since described as part of the barony of Restalrig. The Logans continued proprietors of part of the lands until the beginning of the seventeenth century, when Robert Logan of Restalrig, who was implicated in the Gowry conspiracy, sold them to Adam Cowper, one of the clerks of Session, whose title to them was ratified by Parliament on 17th February 1601. Sixteen oxgangs of the lands of Gogar belonged formerly to a family of the name of Balfour, and were by them sold in 1555 to a wealthy churchman, Robert Richardson, vicar of Eckford in Roxburghshire, and afterwards Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, and Master of the Mint; at his death, in 1571, his son, Sir James Richardson of Smeaton, succeeded to his part of Gogar, and it was afterwards sold by his son, James Richardson, to Adam Cowper, on 19th June 1604, who by this purchase acquired the whole barony of Gogar. The next proprietor was his son, John Cowper, who built the existing mansion-house of the estate in 1626 and 1626, as appears from the initials of himself and his wife, J.C. and H.S., which are carved above these dates on front of the house. John Cowper was killed in the blowing up of Dunglas Castle, on 30th August 1640. His son, John Cowper, erected a monument to his memory in the Old Churchyard of Edinburgh, on which there was the following inscription, viz. "Joanni Cupero Gogarae Comarcho, patri suo charissimo ejusdem nominis filius moerens merenti poni curavit vixit annos 46. Obiit cum multis aliis viris generosis de ecclesia nostra optime meritis, apud Dunglas." John Cowper was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1646. He was for many years an elder of the parish, and took a deep interest in every thing connected with the church. He joined James Lord Forrester in his opposition to Cromwell, and in consequence his rents were sequestrated. Sir John Cowper executed an entail of the lands of Gogar, in favour of his daughter Mary, and her husband Thomas Chalmers in 1685, but it was reduced at the instance of his creditors by the Court of Session in 1697. The estate was sold at a judicial sale in 1699, to Andrew Myreton, a wealthy merchant, who had previously acquired the adjoining lands of Leny, in Cramond parish, and afterwards purchased East and West Craigs, and Meadowfield, part of the barony of Corstorphine, and erected the whole into the barony of Gogar in 1701. In the same year he was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia. He died in 1717, and left the barony to his son, Sir Robert Myreton, by whom it was enclosed and considerably improved. Sir Robert Myreton died at Gogar in December 1774, and was buried within the old church there. His only surviving daughter, Frances, was married to Sir William Augustus Cunningham of Livingston, Bart., and their son David Cunningham, after his grandfather's death, succeeded to the estate, and in 1790 sold it for L.37,000 to William Ramsay, Esq. of Barnton; whose grandson is now proprietor.**
In 1809, about 92 acres of the estate of Gogar were sold to three separate feuars at the rate of 200 guineas per acre, and these feus now constitute the three villas of Gogar Park, Gogar Burn, and Hanley.
The other properties in this parish are Clermiston, and the two estates of Ravelston and Saughton, which were united to the parish in 1633. Clermiston formed a part of the barony of Corstorphine until 1771, when it was sold by Sir Alexander Dick to William Alexander, merchant in Edinburgh, who feued four acres of it to Walter Scott, W.S., father of the famed Sir Walter Scott, and sold the remainder to Samuel Mitchelson, one of the Principal Clerks of Session, who built the House of Clermiston in 1792, at the expense of L.3000. Mr. Mitchelson afterwards acquired the acres feued to Mr. Scott, and continued proprietor until his death. His trustees sold the estate to George Robinson, Esq. W. S. in 1795, for L.11,000 Sterling, and it was again sold in 1836 to Francis Jeffrey, Esq. one of the Senators of the College of Justice, the present proprietor, for L.15,250.
The estate of Ravelston, when separated from St. Cuthbert's parish, belonged to a branch of the family of Foulis of Colinton, who took the name of Primrose in the beginning of the eighteenth century, on succeeding to the estate of Dunipace in Stirlingshire. In 1726, Sir Archibald Primrose, a member of that family, sold this estate to Alexander Keith, writer in Edinburgh, who was descended from Alexander Keith of Pittendrum, the fourth son of William third Earl Mareschall. Ravelston is now possessed by Sir William Keith Murray of Ravelston and Ochtertyre, in right of his wife, Lady Keith Murray, daughter and heiress of the late Sir Alexander Keith.
The estate of Saughton when united to Corstorphine, was held by the family of Watson, who are still proprietors. They have not resided in the mansion-house of the estate since 1737, when they purchased the house and estate of Cammo, in Cramond parish, which they named New Saughton.
Besides these properties, there are three villas on the south side of Corstorphine Hill, viz. Belmont, formerly called Brucehill, Beechwood and Corstorphine Hill. Belmont, consisting of 57 acres, 3 roods, and 20 falls of ground, was originally feued by Charles Bruce, glazier in Edinburgh, from John Dickie of Corstorphine Hill. It was purchased in 1793 at a judicial sale by Major General David Dundas for L.3820. After being held by several intervening proprietors, it was sold in 1827 to Lord Mackenzie, the present proprietor, for L.7500. His Lordship has since erected on it an elegant mansion-house. Beechwood House was built by Francis Scott, Esq. second son of Walter Scott of Harden in 1780. In 1756, he sold the villa to Colonel Alexander Leslie, for L.5073, whose son sold it in 1795 for L.4750. In 1797, it was again sold to Major-General David Dundas of Belmont, for L.5030, and it now belongs to his descendant, Sir David Dundas. Corstorphine Hill was originally feued by Mr. John Dickie, and was by him sold to David Johnston, brewer in Corstorphine, for L.1300. In 1791, Mr. Johnston sold this feu for
L.5500 to William Keith, Esq. accountant in Edinburgh, son of Alexander Keith, Esq. of Ravelston, who built the House of Corstorphine Hill in 1793.
*See a full account of this tragical event in a note at the foot of page 182 of Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland, edited by C. K. Sharpe. In this note, it is said that Lord Forrester was a Presbyterian zealot, and had erected a meeting house near Edinburgh, after the indulgence granted in 1679. This is obviously a mistake, for James Lord Forrester is represented in the parish register as an Episcopalian, who at one time, set at defiance the orders of the presbytery, and, at another, urged the clergyman of the parish to obtain lists of the non-conformists, with the view of enforcing the laws against them. The story of his erecting a meeting-house must have arisen from what is stated by Lord Fountainhall regarding William Lord Forrester, who; having quarreled with Mr. Henry, the minister of the parish, prevented his tenants from attending the church, and advised them to go to the meeting-houses, but not because he approved of the non-conformists ; " for,'' says Lord Fountainhall, " the discord was Mr. Henry lent him money, whereof he was seeking payment."
**Previous to the sale of Gogar to Mr. Ramsay, Sir Grey Cowper, Bart. M. P. the heir-male of the family of Cowper of Gogar, made an offer for it which was refused.
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