Foulden is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

and village in the

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of t ...

area of Scottish Borders, Scotland, situated not far above the

Whiteadder Water Whiteadder Water is a river in East Lothian and Berwickshire, Scotland. It also flows for a very short distance through Northumberland before joining the River Tweed. In common with the headwaters of the Biel Water it rises on the low hillside ...

, and west of

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

. It has "one of the most striking village ensembles in the Borders" which incorporates the former school of 1881, all designed by

John Lessels John Lessels (9 January 1809 – 12 November 1883) was a Scottish architect and artist, notably active in Edinburgh and also the Scottish Borders (he was responsible for numerous buildings and alteration projects in Berwickshire). Life He w ...

. Foulden Has multiple hamlets and farms around it, including the “Nunlands”, “Foulden Newton” or just “the Newton to locals, “the East Newton”, “Bastle” which is full of 1950’s orlits, “Foulden Village”, “New mains”, and “West mains”.

Lairds

Originally one of the superiorities of

Coldingham Priory Coldingham Priory was a house of Benedictine monks. It lies on the south-east coast of Scotland, in the village of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predec ...

(a part of the parish is still called Nunlands), at a very early date it was resigned to the Ramsay family for whom it was erected into a Free Barony. William de Ramsay swore fealty to King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

, for his lands of Dalwolsie ( Dalhousie), Edinburghshire, and of Foulden, Berwickshire, in 1296, and again in 1304. One of this family, George, lived in a

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

at Foulden Bastel and died in January 1592, his tomb is extant. His son James was residing at the Bastel in 1618. In the 17th century the barony of Foulden and its lands were conveyed to Sir John Wilkie, a rich burgess of

Lanark Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...

. In 1696 John Wilkie's residence in Foulden had six taxable hearths, virtually everyone else in the vicinity having just one. Foulden remained with this family until they failed in the male line with James Bruce Wilkie of Foulden, a Captain in the

King's Own Scottish Borderers The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSBs) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. On 28 March 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's O ...

Regiment, who died on 12 December 1935. The Wilkies were responsible for construction and original ownership of the village. The local manor, Foulden House, rebuilt by the Wilkies circa 1800, had a main

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

block of three and a half stories, flanked by peristyled and porticoed two-storey pavilion wings. It was a casualty of the post World War II country-house demolitions.Strang, (1994) p.37

Early ministers

The Ramsay family consolidated their position in Foulden by providing family members as ministers there: Alexander Ramsay was Rector of Foulden in 1562, Thomas (or Tobias) Ramsay (1596–1614), and Thomas Ramsay (1630–1652) who built the

at nearby Nether

Mordington Mordington is an agricultural parish in the extreme south-east of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders region. It is five miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed and borders Northumberland to the east, and south (where the boundary is the Whiteadder ...

,''The Great Seal of Scotland'', 13 September 1636, no.589 (printed edition) today's Edrington House. The Australian explorer and pastoralist

Robert Christison Sir Robert Christison, 1st Baronet, (18 July 1797 – 27 January 1882) was a Scottish toxicologist and physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1838–40 and 1846-8) and as president of the British ...

was born and buried here. He was the sixth son of Alexander Christison who was Foulden's minister for over 50 years and his first wife Helen.

Kirk

The parish church and its churchyard date from the 13th century and the present church was rebuilt in 1789. The 18th century Manse, which stands at the entrance to the churchyard, was rebuilt in 1841. The ancient

Tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

Barn adjoining the churchyard, one of only two remaining in Scotland, where once The Church's 10% was deposited, is now in the care of and protected by

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment ...

. The parish is today conjoined with that of

& Lamberton. Together the three areas for
Foulden, Mordington and Lamberton Community Council
which is run by locally elected non party political volunteers.

Foulden, Mordington and Lamberton Community Council

The parish is within the regional authority of the Scottish Borders Council. Now conjoined with its eastern neighbouring parishes, there is a loca
Foulden Mordington & Lamberton

Community Council A community council is a public representative body in Great Britain. In England they may be statutory parish councils by another name, under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007, or they may be non-statutory bodies. In ...

(similar to an English parish council) which meets bi-monthly.

Notes

References

* ''The Scottish Nation'', by William Anderson, Edinburgh, 1870, vol.2, pps:321-2 (on Ramsay family & Foulden) * ''Smallholding Memories'', General editor John Williams, J.P.,

, 2000, (for Foulden parish). * ''The Scottish Genealogist'', Edinburgh, vol.LII, no,1, March 2005, p. 48 (on Foulden Kirk).

External links

RCAHMS record for Foulden parishRCAHMS record for Foulden, Old Tithe BarnCANMORE/RCAHMS record for Foulden, Hutton BridgeBerwickshire News, July 2009: Historical concerns result in site visit at FouldenBorders Family History Society: FouldenCommunity Council website

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{{authority control Berwickshire Villages in the Scottish Borders