Fogo is a village in the county of Berwickshire, in the Borders of Scotland, 3 miles south of Duns, on the Blackadder Water. The settlement of Fogo lies within the northern boundary of the historical region the Merse, an undulating agrarian landscape that provides rich ploughland and pastures of excellent quality. It has always been the centre of the parish of Fogo, harbouring both the parish kirk and the (now closed) parish school. <br/>Fogo is first mentioned in a c. 1152 deed as (Latin for Fogo church), whereby Gospatric III de Hirsel Earl of Dunbar makes a grant to the Tironensian monks of Kelso Abbey. Due to the importance of its kirk, possibly even having hosted a priory for some time, Fogo, for a hamlet of its size, is disproportionately often mentioned in medieval texts. A selection of the earliest manuscripts is listed in early history. <br />In the following century, c. 1250, the whole estate of Fogo was valued at 40 merks. <br/>The settlement of Fogo and its upstream mill are depicted on Joan Blaeu's map of the Merse, the first printed map of southeastern Scotland, published in 1654.
The name Fogo has until now been derived from the terms "foggage pit, den or hollow" as well as a portmanteau of fog and hollow. <br/>Recent scientific research, published in 2022 in the treatise English Historical Linguistics also points to the Scots word fog, meaning grass left in the field during winter, suggesting a borrowing from early Scandinavian - compare Norwegian fogg long-stalked, weak, scattered grass or heather, typically growing on wet ground. In combination with the suffix hoh / hou, with the meaning heel in the sense of a projecting ridge of land or a promontory, the place name Fogo or foghou, as in the oldest deeds, could now be alternatively interpreted as a site where a ridge is covered with rough grass.
The website The Berwickshire Place-Name Resource has recorded numerous variations of names attributed to the hamlet of Fogo, ranging from CE 1139 to CE 1862; amongst these
The early history of the hamlet Fogo is recorded on a number of deeds, all related to the most important institution in those days: Fogo Kirk and its belongings in the surrounding Fogo parish. These deeds, documenting donations or dedications by the ruling lord, were handwritten in Latin on parchments that were kept at the site of the ecclesiastical owner, in this case, Kelso Abbey. A book published in 1846 reproduces the text of the whole collection of manuscripts from Kelso Abbey, ranging from 1113 to 1567, and may be accessed online here (Vol 1 and 2). Within those documents that refer to Fogo, apart from the omnipresent "Kirk" the text mentions "ploughlands", "meadows", "a manse" or "villa", "croft ... with adjoining land", "tenements", "tofts and crofts, and the dwellings that are on them", and a "mill".
The historically most enlightening of the manuscripts that mention facts related to Fogo - apart from the Kirk - are enlisted here:
The Fogo church and some surrounding lands were donated to the monks of Kelso Abbey in c. 1152 by Cospatrick, Earl of Dunbar . This deed comprises various churches including "the church of Greenlaw, the chapel of Lambden, and the church of Fogo along with one carucate of land", in .
The place name Fogo is explicitly mentioned in a letter dated 17 September 1155 that Pope Adrian IV wrote to Abbot Arnold of Kelso confirming the Abbey's possessions. The enclosed list includes amongst other estates "Kelso, Selkirk,[...] Home, Fogo, Simprim, and the church of Berwick".
This deed describes the boundaries of the donated lands in great detail. The boundaries then set are roughly the same as the current boundaries of Fogo parish more than 800 years later. <br/>In c. 1211 William, son of Earl Patrick of Dunbar, granted to Kelso Abbey "the church of Fogo, with all its pertinents, namely with the toft (mansio) that John, the dean, possessed in his time and with the adjacent croft, and also a certain piece of land adjacent to the same croft, extending southward as far as Grenrigg. From across Grenrigg by an ancient path as far as my meadow, which lies between Grenrigg and Aldefoghou. From that place towards the west, to the stones (cairn / Pyat Knowe, double hillocks; both north of the Blackadder, west of Fogo) set as boundaries between the land of the same monks and the land of the village men. From the stones down to a certain stream (Howe Burn) descending from Blindwell. Another piece of land in the eastern part of the village of Fogo, with its tofts (homesteads), crofts (cottages with their enclosures) and the houses thereupon. I have also given to these monks proceeding through all that land in my territory of Fogo which John the Dean held in his time in the name of the church of Fogo within these boundaries. A certain thorn bush that stands between the land of those same monks, descending along a certain ditch toward the north as far as the Black Eder. Likewise descending to the blakeder toward the east with adjacent meadows, pastures, haughs (low-lying meadows by the side of a river), and heuchs (steep hills, precipices, crags or cliffs), as far as Ricardesfflatt. Likewise ascending directly south by a certain spring towards Estbucerterstrothir, then rising to the west along the path towards Westbucerterstrothir. From Westbuceterstrothir westward by a certain stream to the thorn bush. I have given to the same monks four acres of land adjacent to the land of the same monks, lying on the eastern side, on both sides of the road that leads to Berewic, which is called Ricardflat, next to Blackeder (Water)."[...] Finally "he therefore wishes the monks of Kelso to have and possess the church and all its pertinents in perpetuity, that is, with the lands and meadows that belong to it, and with all the liberties of the church, and all the revenues of the village of Foghou that John, the dean, used to have throughout his time."
According to a document from c. 1250 the church and hamlet of Fogo, , were valued at 40 merks, equal to 40ÃÂ 6 ounces of silver, again corresponding to 26 2/3 Pound Scots. Note that the deed does not indicate whether this amount equals the purchase value of the property or the annual rent due to the proprietor, in this case Kelso Abbey. Whichever applies, in those days 240 ounces of silver would nevertheless comprise a huge value.
In 1297 yet another grant was issued by Patrick Corbet, Lord of Fogo, to Kelso Abbey, dated 20 August 1297; the subject of which is "the chapel of Fogo with the mill of the same, with [all] the lands[... ] [that were] conveyed to the chapel in the tenement of Fogo.[... ] The monks will manage to acquire three monks or three secular chaplains to celebrate divine service in the said chapel for the souls of his ancestors and successors."
The first schoolhouse in Fogo was erected in the late 18th, maybe early 19th century, followed in 1864 by a larger schoolhouse immediately to the west.
A row of cottages at the western end of Fogo, nicknamed "Rashie", is displayed on the original 1858 Ordnance Survey map of Fogo.
Until the Fogo Bridge was constructed in 1641, crossing the Blackadder Water was restricted to the ford that was accessible by circumventing the Fogo churchyard to the left, the yonder track leading north towards Polwarth.
The village claims two Category A listed buildings;
The village encompasses three more listed buildings, all designated Category C.
The surrounding parish of Fogo also hosts a considerable number of listed buildings. Refer to this illustrated list of listed buildings in the parish of Fogo.
The following figures show how the population of Fogo parish changed over time:
The noticeable drop in population of the parish of Fogo between 1755 and 1797, as stated by Sir John Sinclair, is due to the fact that several villages were almost completely razed, and thus supplanted by larger farms. He adds that the remains of old houses are to be seen in every part of the parish. Since the last maximum with 425 inhabitants in 1951 there has been a steady decline in the population, down to only 167 in 2022.
The following maps refer to the images displayed on the right.
Other places nearby include the Crosshall Cross, Duns, Eccles, Edrom, Gavinton, the Greenknowe Tower, Greenlaw, Hume Castle, Leitholm, Longformacus, Polwarth, Swinton, and Westruther.
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