1165 and 1174 in the Acts of William I there is a confirmation to Ralph of Graham in feu and heritage of the lands of Cousland, Pentland and Gogar for the service of one and a half knights.
The lands which had belonged to Johannes de Vallibus were bestowed by Robert the Bruce on Sir Alexander de Seytoun/Seaton (one of the patriots who signed the letter to the Pope in 1330 asserting the Independence of the Scots). He was killed at the battle of Kinghorn in 1332.
Charters by King Robert I
(Item 21) Carta to Alexander Seton, the lands of Gogar, in vic. De Edinburgh.
(Item 43) Carta to Alexander Seytoun, of the lands of Gogar.
In 1336 John de Lastalrick (Restalrig) forfeited Nether Gogar, which had been given in custody to Hugh de Frene.
1409 Walter de Haliburton of Dirleton disponed the lands and miln of Gogar, to his brother, George de Haliburton, and his charter was confirmed by a charter of Robert, Duke of Albany on 11th May 1411. (Item 13).
James II in 1452 endowed his Queen Marie with an annual income from Gogar and its Mill.
In 1516 the lands belonged to the Logans of Restalrig and they have since been described as part of the Barony of Restalrig. The Logans continued to be proprietors of part of the lands until the beginning of the 17th century when Robert Logan of Restalrig was implicated in the Gowry conspiracy. He sold them to Adam Cowper, one of the clerks of Session whose title was ratified by Parliament on 17th February 1601.
At Restalrig in 1550 Robert Logan and his wife Margaret Seaton made two grants including the mansion house at Nether Gogar, one to Patrick Balfour the other to his brother Andrew. In 1566 Patrick’s son succeeded to his portion and sold it in 1586 to James Richardson (elder) Laird of Smeatoun.
Sixteen oxgangs of the lands of Gogar belonged to a family called Balfour and they sold them 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. It was later sold by his son, James Richardson to Adam Cowper, on 19th June 1604, who by this purchase had acquired the whole barony of Gogar.
In 1555 Robert Logan sold part of Gogar to Robert Richardson which started the Richardson Smeaton holdings in the area.
David Balfour was put to the horn for taking part in the battle of Langside.
In 1576 the Earl of Morton obtained part of William Balfour's land a part of which he exchanged for land owned by Richard Smeatoun.
In 1579 the Baron of Restalrig granted the land in Nether Gogar to Thomas Lyoun, Master of Glamis, and during the reign of James VI it was in the possession of Sir Alexander Erskine.
On Morton's fall from favour James VI in 1581 gifted in escheat (forfeiture/confiscation) the land at Gogar to Henry Stewart brother of the Earl of Arran. By the end of the 16th century, when the estate passed to the son James, the Richardson of Smeatoun family had considerable holdings at Gogar.
In 1596 Robert Logan of Restalrig, the Gowrie conspirator, sold his estate of Nether Gogar to Andrew Logan of Coalfield.
Master of Mar, (appointed Governor of Edinburgh Castle 1578). In 1606 his son, Sir Thomas Erskine also of Gogar, was created Viscount Fenton and in 1619 Earl of Kellie and Lord Dirleton. Grey Cooper of Gogar was made a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1638.
In 1601 Robert Logan, last baron of Restalrig, sold the Towne and Landis of Nether Gogar to Adam Couper who, in 1604, acquired the Richardson's property at Gogar and the estate remained in the Couper family until the end of the 17th century. Adam Couper was involved in a dispute with the tenants over their dewty and he obtained a decree against the tenants of the Kirklands which led to James Crawford giving up his houseand two acres. When Adam died in 1608 his sons were still minors. The eldest John married Helen Skene of Hallyards and in 1625/6 built the mansion house there, as appears from the initials J.C. and H.S., which appear above the door. In 1638 he became a baronet of Nova Scotia. In the summer of 1640 (30th August) he was at Haddington (Dunglass) Castle when it was blown up and he was killed.
(In 1606 Thomas Marjoribanks is mentioned in connection with Gogar area as are James Douglas and James Lauriston of Over Gogar).
Gogar Castle c1625 was home of John Couper the elder and his wife Helen Skene of Hallyards. (Fortification on this site before Couper built in 1625 as a payment is recoded in 1501 for ward of Gogar Castle).
In 1646 the estate belonged to his son Sir John Cooper Bart. He joined James Lord Forrester in opposing Cromwell and, in consequence, his rents were sequestrated. His son Sir John Couper the younger, succeeded him.
In 1685 Sir John Cowper executed an entail of the lands of Gogar, in favour of his daughter Mary and her husband Thomas Chalmers, but it was reduced at the instance of his creditors by the Court of Session in 1696.
Gogar estate was rouped (sold by public auction) in 1699 and bought by a wealthy Edinburgh merchant, Andrew Myrton of Leny, who afterwards purchased East and West Craigs, and Meadowfield, 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 1720.
Registered Entails in Scotland Item 163, Vol. 5, Fol. 300, Date of Taizie, 6 Aug 1720, MYRETOUN (Sir Andrew) of Gogar - Lands and Barony of Gogar, and others.
His son Sir Robert Myreton inherited the estate and enclosed it; he died at Gogar in 1774 and is buried in 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. (Prior to the sale of Gogar to Mr Ramsay, Sir Grey Cowper, Bart. MP and male heir of the family of Cowper of Gogar made an offer for it, which was refused).
Sir John Gibsone leased Gogar Castle in 1775 and died there in 1781.
In 1783 Sir Robert Liston bought Damhead Farm and later built his house Millburn there.
In 1786 Gogar estate was put up for sale and Sir Grey Cooper hoped to regain the family property but the price asked was too high, £42,000. The survey of the assets of the estate show it as East and West Craigs, Meadowfield, Gogar Mains, Golf Hall, Gogar Toun, Caroline Park, Foreshortland Park, Ladywell Park and Mill Park.
In 1789 William Ramsay of Barnton, an Edinburgh Banker and Director of the Royal Bank of Scotland, purchased Gogar for £37,000.
In 1791 Henrietta Watson, Lady Gibsone of Pentland, occupied the mansion. She gave up her tenancy at Martinmas that year.
In 1798 Over Gogar Mains became Gogar Bank owned by Sir Robert Liston and Cumberland Reid. Liston’s part was called Gogar Green.
In 1799 Henrietta Watson, wife of Sir John Gibson Bart of Pentland stayed at Gogar Castle.
During the early 1800s Golf hall, part of the Gogar Estate, was an important posting house.
In 1809 the Ramseys sold some 92 acres to three separate feuars at the rate of 200 guineas per acre, these feus now constitute the three Villas of Gogar Park, (Claud Muirhead, Printer, Gogar Park) Gogar Burn, (John Thompson, Merchant, Gogar Burn), and Hanley House, (Alex. Osborne, Hanley/Gogar Camp).
In 1832 the Ramsays feued two and a half acres and Gogar Village to Sir Robert Liston who had purchased the old village of Gogar with a view to providing homes for ladies of decayed fortunes, however, this was a failed venture.
GOGAR a station, a quondam parish, and a burn in the west of Edinburghshire. The station in Ratho parish, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow section of the North British railway, 5½ miles WSW of Edinburgh. The parish, since 1599, has been incorporated partly with Ratho, partly with Kirkliston, and chiefly with Corstorphine; its church was older than that of Corstorphine, and a small part of it still exists (1891) having been set apart soon after the reformation as a family burying place.
The village of Gogar is said to have contained 300 inhabitants at one time. About 60 years ago (1825) , amongst its constant residents were a watchmaker, flesher, baker, blacksmith and wright, besides the schoolmaster (this information is in an 1885 publication). Now the three last, and two or three families of farm servants, constitute its whole population. In 1838 it contained, including the farm steading, only 7 families composed of 24 individuals.