John Huntar

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John Huntar was a Scottish farmer who kept livestock in Holyrood Park for Mary, Queen of Scots.

Huntar was a burgess of the Canongate, a district of Edinburgh which then had a separate administration. He became keeper of Holyrood Park during the regency of Mary of Guise and was paid a fee of £20 Scots.George Powell McNeill, Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. 19 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 130, 379. In 1559 and 1560 he built a house in the park, constructed a section of the park dyke, and employed masons and other labourers to repair boundaries, some of which had been destroyed by the villagers of Duddingston.George Powell McNeill, Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. 19 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 133.

He became an Edinburgh burgess in 1561, by right of his wife Margaret Aikman.Robert Adam, Old Accounts, 2 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 147. In 1563 he provided mutton to the royal household and bought and drove 77 cattle to Holyrood Park. 80 sheep were bought, and a barrel of tar and tallow was bought (to treat their feet).George Powell McNeill, [https://archive.org/details/exchequerrollss03exchgoog/page/n329/mode/2up Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. 19 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 234, 250] A would-be rustler, Thomas Bullerwell, was banished for stealing the Queen's sheep from the park in May 1563.Robert Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland, 1 (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 388.

In 1564 he provided meat to the royal household and 24 stones of wool worth £25 to the exchequer. Huntar became the leaseholder of Holyrood Park on 20 March 1565, and was contracted to repair the boundary dykes and drainage ditches around the meadows. The lands included the Abbot's meadow and a marshy area extending towards Restalrig.David Laing, Works of John Knox, vol. 2 (Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, pp. 461-2: NRS E30/11. In March 1567 Queen Mary upgraded his terms and he was to make improvements in Holyrood park, including planting broom to feed the sheep.Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 5:2 (Edinburgh, 1957), pp. 324-5 no. 3361.

His wife Margaret Aikman died in 1570. Sheep belonging to "poor men of the town" were taken from the park in May 1571 during the Marian Civil War.Robert Pitcairn, Memorials of the Transactions in Scotland by Richard Bannatyne (Edinburgh: Bannatyne Club, 1836), p. 136.

A valley on Arthur's Seat is called Hunter's Bog. It is unclear if it is named after John Huntar.[https://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst94445.html Gazetteer for Scotland: Hunter's Bog]