RCAHMS record threatened church

The Parish Church of Ettrick and Buccleuch, best known as the final resting place of the writer James Hogg, is being considered for closure by the Church of Scotland. RCAHMS Threatened Building Survey Team visited the beautifully-preserved post-reformation kirk to record its important historical features, many of which may be lost if the building is put to a new use in the future.

James Hogg, the celebrated ‘Ettrick Shepherd’, was born into poverty in the late eighteenth century and was baptised in the church. A self-taught farm worker inspired by Robert Burns, he became a well-known member of Edinburgh’s literary community and a friend of Walter Scott.

Hogg continued to live in the Borders as a shepherd throughout his writing career, and it was only after his death that the quality and importance his work was truly recognised.  Scholars and authors in the late nineteenth century rediscovered and celebrated Hogg’s writings, in particular his novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of A Justified Sinner, and in 1898 an elaborate obelisk monument was erected on the site of the poet’s birthplace. Hogg’s gravestone is also found nearby in the parish church graveyard. Both of these monuments were recorded as part of RCAHMS survey.