Parish of Fogo

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

This edition is copyright © The Editors of the Gazetteer for Scotland, 2002-2022.

It has taken much time and money to make the six-volumes of Groome's text freely accessible. Please help us continue and develop by making a donation. If only one out of every ten people who view this page gave £5 or $10, the project would be self-sustaining. Sadly less than one in thirty-thousand contribute, so please give what you can.

Use the tabs on the right of this page to see other parts of this entry Arrow

Links to the Historical Statistical Accounts of Scotland are also available:
(Click on the link to the right, scroll to the bottom of the page and click "Browse scanned pages")

1791-99: Fogo
1834-45: Fogo

Fogo, a hamlet and a parish of central Berwickshire. The hamlet lies on the right bank of Blackadder Water, 1½ mile E of Marchmont station, and 4½ miles S by W of its post-town, Duns.

The parish is bounded N and NE by Edrom, E by Swinton, S by Eccles, SW by Greenlaw, and NW by Polwarth. Its utmost length, from ENE to WSW, is 51/8 miles; its utmost breadth is 2 miles; and its area is 4669 acres, of which 17¼ are water. Blackadder Water winds 3¾ miles north-eastward through the north-western interior, and then for 1 mile traces the northern border; its channel is a sort of huge furrow here, between parallel ranges of low heights, that nowhere sink much below 300, or much exceed 500, feet above sea-level. Sandstone, the principal rock, was formerly quarried; and boulder clay lies so deep that the steep banks of the Blackadder can be ploughed within a few yards of the stream. The soil on the higher grounds is a deep black loam, extremely fertile; that of the lower grounds is thinner, and lies on till, yet is very far from being unproductive. Some 300 acres are under wood, 40 or so are natural pasture, and all the rest of the land is under cultivation. A Roman camp, crowning a commanding elevation (500 feet) at Chesters, near the south-western extremity of the parish, and approached by a causeway through a marsh, has been nearly obliterated by the operations of agriculture. Caldra and Charterhall, both separately noticed, are mansions; and the property is divided among four. Fogo is in the presbytery of Duns and synod of Merse and Teviotdale; the living is worth £300. The parish church, on the Blackadder's bank, at the village, is an old and picturesque, ivy-mantled building, enlarged in 1853, and containing 278 sittings. A public school, with accommodation for 123 children, had (1881) an average attendance of 57, and a grant of £52, 18s. 6d. Valuation (1882) £7959. Pop. (1801) 507, (1831) 433, (1851) 604, (1861) 559, (1871) 502, (1881) 468.—Ord. Sur., shs. 26, 25, 1864-63.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

If you have found this information useful please consider making
a donation to help maintain and improve this resource. More info...

By using our site you agree to accept cookies, which help us serve you better