Twelfth Century
Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar
In 1113, a few years after they were founded, the monks from Tiron under Bernard were invited by David 1 (then Earl of Cumbria and Lothian) to Selkirk in the Borders. In early 12* century Scotland there were in effect two churches running side by side. The early Celtic Culdees (from Céli Dé, servants of God) had established monasteries in Scotiand and Northumbria long before David came to the throne, lona, Whithorn, St Andrews, Lindisfarne and Melrose perhaps being among the most well known. Alongside the Celtic church was the Roman Catholic Church which was gaining ground, largely through the earlier patronage of Queen Margaret, later to marry Malcom III in 1070. David's plan was to form an integrated Scottish Church. The Celtic origins of the Tironesians would have helped with this integration. When David 1 became King of Scotland he moved the Tironesians from Selkirk to Kelso where they built the Notre-Dame of Roxburgh (1128-1143). David also granted them land at Fogo. By the end of the 12* Century the Tironesians controlled a total of 117 priories and abbeys, including the Abbey at Kilwinning, the reputed birthplace of Freemasonry.
Robert Fitz Corbet and his sons came over with William the Conquerer, the sons having fought at Hastings. They settled in Shropshire, and later came to Scotland as part of David's retinue in about 1116.
David granted land to Robert in Roxburghshire as a vassal under the Earls of Dunbar. The Corbets became major landowners in Scotländ having their main estates in the Yetholm area.
In 1159 The Earl of Dunbar's son Gospatrick gave both Hume and Fogo churches to Kelso. Both were confirmed to the abbey by Malcolm IV in his great charter of that year. This is the first mention of a church in Fogo that I have found, but it would seem certain that if Fogo church was a gift it would have been established some time before 1159. Moreover, it seems unlikely that David would have given the Tironesians land at Fogo in 1116, some 12 miles away from Kelso, unless there was some extra incentive such as a church or chapel there. Fogo is fairly central in the Merse, a fertile area between the Cheviots and Lammermuirs which sits in a triangle between three great early Christian centres of Melrose, Coldingham and Lindisfarne.
There was much movement of missionaries between these centres as they converted the local populace, and there is evidence of very early chapels in the area. St Cuthbert's Way connects Lindisfarne with Melrose and runs south of the Tweed, but other routes could have passed close to or through Fogo.
It was a fashion for major landlords in those days to build a private chapel on land on their estates rather than a private one within the big house. Sometimes they were built within a church itself. It is known for certain that in 1242 Fogo chapel was known as the Chapel of Lord William after the son of the Earl of Dunbar. Lord William's son Patrick married the heiress to the Corbets of Makerstoun and adopted the Corbet surname. in 1242 the chapel was dedicated to St Nicholas by Bishop David de Benham and eleven years later - Patrick Corbet granted the chapel to the monks of Kelso. Watt and Shead follow Cowan and Easson (Medieval Religious Houses, 67) in confirming that Fogo was a house of the Tironensian order, founded in 1253.
In 1280 more land was added:
William Fraser, bishop of St Andrews, for Kelso Abbey; makes known that chapel of St Nicholas of Fogo is situated within parochial boundaries of parish church of Fogo which church belongs by right to monastery of Kelso. Patrick Corbet granted and donated the chapel, which his ancestors had founded, to Kelso Abbey with the mill, lands, rents, liberties and easements as recited here. Bishop William, with assent of Patrick and abbot and convent of Kelso establishes, ratifies and approves this concession and donation, reserving to himself and his successors the ability to compel Kelso Abbey to provide for three monks or chaplains celebrating divine service for said Patrick in said chapel.