Cairn's Mill

Cairn's Mill
Cairn's Mill is located in Scottish Borders
Cairn's Mill
Cairn's Mill
Location within the Scottish Borders
OS grid referenceNT7849
Civil parish
  • Fogo
Council area
Lieutenancy area
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townDuns
Postcode districtTD11
Dialling code01360
PoliceScotland
FireScottish
AmbulanceScottish
UK Parliament
Scottish Parliament
Cairn's Mill - mill, cottage, and steadings - seen from Fogo road in autumn 1959

Cairn's Mill[1] consists of a group of buildings[2] close to the Blackadder Water in the parish of Fogo, county of Berwickshire, Borders of Scotland.

The presence of a mill at this site is indicated on a map from 1654[3], which covers the historic region within the Scottish Borders known as the Merse, but the first inhabitant Jasper Cairns was recorded somewhat earlier on 28 Oct. 1591 as in the [millstead} Bogend-mylne, parish of Fogo in the Merse".[4] The explicit declaration as Bogend Mill shows the close relationship between Bogend Farm and the Mill before the mill's name subsequently changed to Cairn's Mill.

All buildings within this settlement are registered as Category C listed buildings[5], which includes both the cottage and the steadings on the hillside and the mill down in the Blackadder Water valley, adjacent to the mill race. All these buildings were erected between the late 18th and mid 19th century, with some later additions. According to the oldest inhabitant's memories the mill was still in use in the late 1960s. The only access route is via a single-track road, which to the west leads to the village of Fogo, just over a mile away, and to the east roughly half a mile to Bogend Farm.

Description

Cairn's Mill

Cairn's Mill is the first of a series of mills downriver from Fogo, at the foot of the southern slope of the Blackadder Water's narrow valley, ajacent to the mill race (mill lade on Ordnance Survey maps for Scotland). As a person named Jasper Cairns is documented as "in the Bogend-mylne" in proceedings dated 1591,[4] the original Mill, a cornmill, must have been erected and in regular use well before that decade.

No date is given for the current two-storeyed building, but it is clearly depicted on Andrew Armstrong's map of 1771 together with a building uphill to the south.[5] This implies that at least one of the hillside structures is of similar age; most probably Cairn's Mill cottage, but it cannot be ruled out that that structure may be the first part of the later extended steadings.

The walls of the mill are constructed of rubble masonry, surely erected on the site of a previous structure; roofing material is mostly corrugated iron except for the slate-covered kiln to the north. All original machinery has been removed from the interior of the mill. At some date a sawmill was attached and the corrugated iron roofing of the eastern side of the building was correspondingly extended.[5][6]

Cairn's Mill cottage

Cairn's Mill cottage resides on the hillside about 6 metres north of the steadings, the garden behind sloping towards the mill below. The original, much smaller cottage may date back to the 18th century. Most additions and alterations had occurred by the mid 19th century, some more in the following decades. The current cottage is L-shaped, with the older section to the east, to which a wider western section was later added. A gabled porch serves as the main entrance, the initial structure's door serves as side entrance.[5][6]

Cairn's Mill steadings

The Cairn's Mill steadings are laid out in a rectangular form. The oldest parts probably date back to the 18th century. Three sections (west, north, east) connect to form a courtyard open to the south. A description from the year 1998 mentions a rubble wall enclosing the southern end of the courtyard.[5]

History

Detail extracted from the original map of the Merse by Joan Blaeu, printed 1654. Cairn's Mill is situated at the first water wheel symbol downriver from Fogo K(irk), close to the lower edge of this image >> Click here to refer to map with annotations which indicate various locations, including the modern names of all mills situated on the Blackadder Water and its tributaries.

Cairn's Mill lies within the precincts of Fogo parish, the boundaries of which are first described in a 1211 deed granting the complete area of the parish to the Tironensian monks of Kelso Abbey. In the following centuries many more mills were established in Fogo parish beside the Blackadder Water, both upriver and downriver from Fogo Mill (as indicated on Joan Blaeu's map of the Merse at right), and one of them was the site of the so called Bogend Mylne, the precursor of Cairn's Mill, closely associated with the Boigend (Bogend) farm.

Rough wooing (1545)

In 1545 an English force invaded the Merse, one of a series of incursions known as the Rough Wooing.
On Sunday, 20th of September 1545, coming from Kelso, the commanding Earl of Hertford razed first Coldstream, then marched through the parish of Fogga (Fogo), burning every farmstead, mill, manse, and kirk on the way; thereupon he camped overnight in the vicinity of Fogo and subsequently proceeded to burn down both town and castle of Duns and to devastate all of Duns parish before returning to England via Ladykirk.[7] The Earl compiled an account of his campaign together with a list of 'THE NAMES OF THE FORTRESSES, ABBEYS, FRERE-HOUSES, MARKET TOWNES, VILLAGES, TOWRES AND PLACES burnt, razed and, and cast down'.[7] Although neither the Bogend Mylne nor Bogend are included in this list, they both reside alongside the road leading from Fogo to Ryslaw, both of which are mentioned, and thus were surely affected and most likely utterly devastated.

Jasper Cairns in the Bogend-mylne (1591 and 1603)

The site of the rebuilt(?) mill was first recorded some 40 years later on 28 Oct. 1591 in "THE COMMISSARIOT RECORD OF EDINBURGH. REGISTER OF TESTAMENTS. 1514-1600"[4] in a testament given by a man named Jasper Cairns, here of the Bogend-mylne. The current official designation Cairn's Mill is obviously derived from the surname of its historical operator, presumably the head miller. At which point in time Cairns' name replaced the original term Bogend as designation for this mill is unknown.
Excerpt from page 45 of the above mentioned document:

Cairns (Cairnes), Jasper, in the Bogend-mylne, par[ish] of Fogo in the Merse - 28 Oct. 1591 and 21 Feb. 1603[a]

Page 45 also states that at some time Jasper Cairns operated the Nisbet Mill, the next site downriver, together with his 'sometime spouse' Bessi Watson, her testament having been recorded even earlier, on 16 May 1582:

Cairns (Cairnes), Jasper, in Neisbet-mylne. See Watson, Bessie.[a]
... Watson, Bessie, sometime spouse to Jasper Cairns, in Neisbet-mylne in the Merse - 16 May 1582

The millstead Bogend-mylne is also mentioned two years later on page 167, here referring to a man of unknown occupation, named John Swinton:

Swinton, John, in the Bogend-mylne, par[ish] of Fogo in the Merse - 10 Nov. 1593[b]

Map of the Merse (1654)

It took more than half a century before Cairn's Mill was cartographically registered; as an unnamed water wheel symbol close to the Blackadder Water on Joan Blaeu's 1654 map of the Merse. It is one of a whole series of mills spaced along the Blackadder river.[3]

Alterations and extensions of the buildings (since 1771)

Alterations and extensions of the buildings may be traced since 1771. The most significant alterations are the enlargement of the hillside cottage, the continual development of the steadings, and the addition of a cottage (now demolished) in the valley at the foot of the steep downhill track leading to the mill.

Historic Valuation / tithes / rentals

Until the reformation in Scotland took hold every farmstead, mill, or manse in a parish was obliged to pay tithes or rentals to the church. There are no records for the valuation of either Bogend-mylne or Cairn's Mill, but a rough estimation may be derived from other sites within the parish of Fogo.

Annual payment for Bogend, as stated on various documents compiled at the Abbey of Kelso, all dated c. 1567; surely including the Bogend Mill:

Annual "RENTALL OF THE ABBACIE" (Kelso Abbey), section "THE KIRKIS THAT PAIS VITTALL", Charta de Calchou, page 504:[8]
According to a trade dictionary of 1863: 1 boll(is) of barley weighed 320 pounds; 1 boll(is) of oats 264 pounds; 1 chauldron = 16 bolls.

Bogend: In wheat 2 bollis, in barley 10 bo[llis], in oats 1 ch[auldron] 4 bo[llis] - summa 2 ch[auldrons][c]

Annual "RENTALL OF THE ABBACIE" (Kelso Abbey), Charta de Calchou, page 491:[8]

Item the kirk land of Fogo called Gey rig (Fogorig): 20s   [equal to: [£1]
Item the mylne of fogo: £4

Annual rentals to the Abbey of Kelso, Book of Assumptions[9], page 231:

The Bogend: 53s 4p   [equal to: [£2 13s 4 p]
The Mylne of Fogo: £4

List of owners

Five owners / operators / millers of Cairn's Mill are documented:

  • Jasper Cairns, miller or operator of the mill in 1591.[a]
  • D. M. Robertson Esq., owner of the estate in 1840.[10]
  • Richard Trotter esq. is registered as subsequent proprietor of Cairn's Mill until he sold the property sometime before 1866.[11]
  • George Sanderson is mentioned in 1866 as 'farmer at Cairnsmill'.[11]
  • The Calder family purchased Bogend Farm and Cairn's Mill before 1955.[5]

Maps of Cairn's Mill

The following links lead to maps with annotations that display various stages of the development of Cairn's Mill and surroundings:

Nearby places

Other places nearby include Bogend farmstead, Fogo, Fogo Mains (farmstead, earlier Fogo Eastend), Fogorig (farmstead), Ryslaw (farmstead), Harcarse (farmstead), Caldra (farmstead), Sisterpath (farmstead), Charterhall (manse), Charterhall airfield, Gavinton, the Greenknowe Tower, Greenlaw, Duns, Polwarth.

See also

Note: images of the mill are not in the public domain, but are available at one of these external links.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Entry on page 45: Cairns, Jasper, in the Bogend-mylne, parish of Fogo in the Merse - 28 Oct. 1591 and 21 Feb. 1603
  2. ↑ Entry on page 167: Swinton, John, in the Bogend-mylne, parish of Fogo in the Merse - 10 Nov. 1593
  3. ↑ These are Scottish dry volume measures that were slightly different for various types of grain, but often bore the same name.
    * chalder (chauder) equal to 16 bolls
    * boll (bowe, or bole) equal to 4 firlots.
    Weight equivalents of one boll are given in a trade dictionary of 1863 as follows: Barley 320 pounds; Oats 264 pounds; Oatmeal 140 pounds.

References

  1. ↑ "Cairn's Mill". The Berwickshire Place-Name Resource, University of Glasgow. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  2. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "CAIRN'S MILL COTTAGE INCLUDING MILL STEADING AND CAIRN'S MILL (Category C Listed Building LB45764)". Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  3. 1 2 Joan Blaeu, Timothy Pont (1654). "Marcia (Merse)". NLS.uk. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 Grant, Francis J. (1897). THE COMMISSARIOT RECORD OF EDINBURGH. REGISTER OF TESTAMENTS. The British Record Society, Limited, Edinburgh. Retrieved 22 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "CAIRN'S MILL COTTAGE INCLUDING MILL STEADING AND CAIRN'S MILL, LB45764". Historicenvironment.scot. 15 October 1998. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  6. 1 2 "Fogo, Cairn's Mill - Architecture Notes". Trove.scot. 15 October 1998. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
  7. 1 2 "A CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNT OF THE EARL OF HERTFORD'S SECOND EXPEDITION TO SCOTLAND", Sept. 1545, 1891, retrieved 23 August 2026
  8. 1 2 Liber S. Marie de Calchou 1113-1567, RENTALL OF THE ABBACIE, FOGO KIRK, 1846, p. 504, archived from the original on 11 January 2008, retrieved 23 August 2026
  9. ↑ The Books of Assumption of the thirds of benefices : Scottish ecclesiastical rentals at the Reformation, 1995, retrieved 24 August 2026
  10. ↑ "The property of D. M. Robertson Esq. situate(d) in the parishes of Ladykirk, Fogo, Gordon, Eccles & Swinton in the County of Berwick, surveyed in the years 1830 and 1840 - (refer to cartouche at top right of image)". NLS.uk. 1840. Retrieved 17 December 2025.
  11. 1 2 "Statement of Special Interest: previous owners Richard Trotter esq. and George Sanderson". Historicenvironment.scot. 1866. Retrieved 18 December 2025.

Bibliography

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