Fogo Parish Church
A Short Historical Perspective — why Fogo Church matters.
A lamp to its community
The church at Fogo is an ancient one which can trace its roots back to the reign of King David I who, in 1116, gave the manor of ‘Foghou’ to Robert Corbet, a Norman knight who came over with William the Conqueror. There would have been a church in Fogo at this time and records show that in 1159 this church was granted to the Abbey of Kelso by Gospatrick, the Earl of Dunbar.
On 29th. March, 1243, the Bishop of St. Andrews, David de Bernham, in his tour of the Borders, visited Fogo and dedicated the church. This was not its first dedication but was designed to bring any churches which might have been founded under the old Celtic or Columban Church into line with the Roman Catholic practice.
It is worth remembering that at this time there were three ecclesiastical ‘powers’ competing for the loyalty of the people – the Roman Catholic Church from its base in St. Andrews, the monasteries based in Kelso and Melrose and the itinerant friars of the Franciscan and similar orders.
In 1253, just ten years later, Kelso Abbey provided three resident monks to establish a priory at Fogo.
The story of Fogo can, however, be traced even earlier for Christianity came to Berwickshire in the seventh century. Fogo is about the midpoint of the three great centres of Celtic Christianity in this area – Holy Island, Coldingham and Old Melrose. It is certain that many Christian people crossed and re-crossed this area, setting up small Christian communities here. There has, for example, been a ford across the Blackadder at Fogo for many centuries and where better to build an ancient kirk as well?
Indeed, ancient records speak of a chapel of St. Nicholas here in Fogo and many archaeologists believe that the present church is built on the site of that even older building.
Suffice it to say that Fogo Kirk is ancient and that people have been worshipping here for many, many centuries. During the years of the Border raids life will have been hard for the folk from Fogo and for its church, but we have the record of the names of all of the parish ministers from the time of the Scottish reformation until today and it is a record of care and service to God’s people in a small rural community which stands beside many others within the Scottish Borders.
It is no wonder that when a lengthy ministry at Fogo was coming to an end in 2016 that the Presbytery of Duns sought to take steps to ensure the future of an ancient, important and historical building – a ‘thin’ place of the faith which had spoken to people of God’s love over so many centuries.