Fogo

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. Fogo is first mentioned in a c. 1152 deed as Ecclesiam de foghou (Latin for Fogo church), whereby Gospatric III de Hirsel, Earl of Lothian and, later, 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. In the following century, c. 1250, the whole estate of Fogo was valued at 40 merks. 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.