Fogo

   FOGO, a parish, in the county of Berwick, 4 miles (S. by W.) from Dunse; containing 455 inhabitants, of whom about 35 are in the village. This place, of which the name is of uncertain derivation, appears, though unconnected with any event of historical importance, to have some claim to antiquity; and from a confirmatory charter of Malcolm IV., in 1159, it is clear that the church of Fogo had been granted previously to that time to the monastery of Kelso. The parish is five miles in length, from east to west, and two miles and a half in average breadth, and comprises about 5000 acres, of which 4600 are arable, 300 woodland and plantations, and the remainder meadow and pasture. The surface is traversed in the north by two parallel ridges of inconsiderable height, between which the river Blackadder flows throughout the whole length of the parish: on the south are some extensive level tracts. The scenery is pleasingly varied, and in parts enriched with timber of stately growth. The Blackadder, which has its source in some mossy land in the parish of Westruther, from which circumstance it takes its name, runs in a direction from east to west, and falls into the Whiteadder in the parish of Edrom; it abounds with eels and trout of a reddish colour, but salmon are never found in its stream. There is a bridge of one arch on the road to Dunse, built in 1664, lately repaired, and which bears the name of the family of Cockburn, of Langton.

   The soil on the higher land is exceedingly fertile, consisting principally of a deep black loam; but in the lower lands it is thinner, and of inferior quality, resting on a retentive clay. The crops are, oats, barley, wheat, and turnips; the system of agriculture is in an advanced state, and the four-shift course of husbandry generally prevalent. Bone-dust and various other kinds of manure are used in the cultivation of turnips; the lands have been in great part thoroughly drained, and inclosed with hedges of thorn; the farm-buildings are substantial and well arranged, and all the more recent improvements in the construction of agricultural implements have been adopted. Considerable attention is paid to the rearing of live stock; the cattle are partly of the short-horned, and partly of the Highland breed, and the sheep mostly the Leicestershire. The plantations are fir, intermixed with forest trees, of which the chief are, beech, birch, and lime. The rateable annual value of Fogo is £5851. Caldra House, the principal mansion in the parish, is now in the occupation of Capt. Cathcart; and Charter Hall, a neat summer seat, built by the late Henry Trotter, Esq., of Morton Hall, is occasionally visited by the proprietor. Communication with the neighbouring market-towns and other places is afforded by good roads, of which the turnpike-road to Berwick, and to the suspension-bridge communicating with Northumberland, passes through the parish, and that from Coldstream to Dunse crosses its western extremity. Fogo is in the presbytery of Dunse and synod of Merse and Teviotdale, and patronage of the Crown; the minister's stipend is £219. 5. 10., with a manse, and a glebe valued at £18. 10. per annum. The church, situated on the banks of the Blackadder, is an ancient structure, repaired in 1755, and reseated in 1817, and is adapted for a congregation of 200 persons. The parochial school is well attended; the master has a salary of £25. 13., with £20 fees, and a house and garden. Among the remains of antiquity may be mentioned the old house of Harcarse, situated on the immediate borders of the parishes of Edrom and Swinton, and formerly belonging to the family of Hogg, now extinct; and at the western extremity of the parish, at a place named Chesters, are vestiges of a Roman camp, the stones of which have been nearly all removed. To the south of the parish have been discovered, in a marshy tract of land, some remains of a causeway, probably part of the road leading to the camp.