I had a trip to Edinburgh in March 2002
and also spent an afternoon in and around Selkirk. It is lovely country
round there, especially at Yair which is right on the banks of the River
Tweed. I managed to find Springbank in Selkirk where James and Jane Lambert spent their final years in the late 1870s and in Jane's case the early 1880s. It is No
1 in a street called Taits Hill, which some of James and Jane's children
and families were living in in 1881. It looks from the way Springbank
is situated that it was there first and then the street put in later as the
street actually goes past the back of Springbank, and this ties in with old
maps that show Springbank but no street. I spoke to one of the neighbours,
who said the current occupier had some information about the house, but
unfortunately he was not in.
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Springbank is this white house. I guess the bit added
on is more recent. The stone building in the background is a separate property.
This is Taits Hill and Springbank is at the far end on the right
I then went to Yair which only a few miles from Selkirk. Yair House is no longer owned by the Pringle family, but looks to be in good shape
I was not able to find Yair New Farm House or the Stewards House which James and Jane lived in while James was a tennant farmer there, though there are several possible properties still there which might be them. Maybe the big house has an old plan of the estate. I might try and find out before I am in the area again. This cottage is the South Gate where their son John lived with his wife Christina Skinner and a cousin, a nephew and Christina's mother in April 1851 with baby Elizabeth due in a couple of months. It is a lovely setting on the river bank with the hills behind.
I spoke to the current occupant, who confirmed it was South Gate, and he says the wing on the right which has an extra bedroom and bathroom is newer than the original part of the house which was built about 1820. Another of James and Jane's sons, my g-grandfather William Lambert, married Helen Anderson whose father Andrew was a shepherd at Yair. In 1881 he and his wife were living in Yair Farm Cottage. Their son James with his family lived next door at Yair Farm Cottage No 2. I think these might be them
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