Mystery Solved?

Border Reivers

The key excerpt here is: "

'....makes known that chapel of St Nicholas of Fogo is situated within

parochial boundaries of parish church of Fogo..." This confirms that the chapel and church were separate foundations existing side by side at this time. In fact it is recorded that Bishop David de Benham consecrated Fogo Church in 1243, a year after he consecrated the Chapel of St Nicholas. The chapel of St Nicholas is extremely unlikely therefore to have been a chapel built inside Fogo Church itself, but the site of the Chapel of St Nicholas is still a mystery. It is certain that Fogo Church was given to Kelso in 1159, and Fogo Chapel in 1253.

Surprisingly, only two Priors of Fogo are recorded. William Leischman (1465 - 1466) and Andrew Leslie. In 1537, with the Border Reiver raids still going strong, Andrew Leslie, monk of Lindores, petitioned the Pope for provision to this priory which is "conventual and is a dependency of the monastery of Calco (Kelso) and of which the fruits do not exceed £7". The term conventual in those days meant a residential monastery for monks or nuns, and did not imply a nunnery as it does today. However there is farm a mile or so west of Fogo called Sisterpath, and this name suggests that perhaps there were nuns at one time associated with Fogo Priory. When Andrew Leslie made this petition, he was not to know that 14 years later the Earl of Hertford would be responsible for the sacking of Kelso Abbey, along with Jedburgh, Melrose and Dryburgh, and that this would signal the end of all the monastic communities in the area.

During the period between 1542 and 1550, the raiding, looting and burning by the Earl of Hertford extended to all Border Villages. The Corbet family were of Norman descent and owned huge estates in Roxburghshire (Fogo was in Roxburghshire in those days). Scotland was getting considerable military help from the French who supported the regent Marie of Guise. Marie of Guise who was ruling in place of her absent infant daughter Mary, Queen of Scots (and also of France at that time). The Corbets were loyal to the Scottish Crown so they would probably have been on the Earl of Hertford's list of things to do. There was a settlement near Fogo (now totally demolished) 500 metres west of Enclosure 76 on the same side of the Blackadder called Corbiehall. This could well be a contraction of Corbet Hall and coincidentally, the corbie or raven is a feature on the Corbet's coat of arms. However, I have found no evidence of any Corbets having lived there.

Between the 14* and 15*h September 1545, it was the turn of a group of settlements within the Parish of Fogo itself. Clerkenville, Whinkerstones, Fogomuir, Fogorig, Ryslaw, 'Fowge Towne', Sisterpath, Sisterpath Mill, the Sawmill and Caldra, were all destroyed under the orders of the Earl of Hertford. The Chapel of St Nicholas was a Corbet endowment as we have seen, and if Enclosure 76 was the site of that chapel, it would certainly have suffered along with many other churches and chapels during those two days.

Fogo church itself survived, but it is most unlikely to have survived the looting intact. At least the foundations and lower walls are said to date from the 12th Century and the two traceable arches on the north wall, possibly indicating vaults, may also date from this time. It was substantially rebuilt in 1683, when "the church west of the door by which the minister enters to reach the pulpit cannot be repaired; and the north and south walls for the same length must be rebuilt; the north wall as far as it is double is to be taken down and the rest of the wall thatched with stone."

But of the Chapel of St Nicholas there is no trace, though there is a strong suspicion its remains will be found in Enclosure 76.