The People of Bedrule Church

by Roger Curtis

A number of interesting and important folk have been associated with Bedrule Church throughout its lifetime.

William Turnbull had been Bishop of Glasgow 1447- 1454 and founded Jedburgh Grammar School, as well as The University of Glasgow. It is likely that he developed the large property close to east side of Ancrum termed the ‘bishops palace’, which was the residence of the Bishops of Glasgow when visited their estates in the south of Scotland. The building fell into ruin after the reformation, although masonry was still standing in the 19 th C. Its later name was ‘Mantle Walls’ and parts were excavated in 2019.

The Minister of Bedrule in the late seventeenth Century, The Reverend Bourland, was considered good with Fairies and changelings, problems which he addressed with a brew obtained he made from plants he had gathered from the slopes of Ruberslaw close by. It was said that a child that had been enchanted at Minto was substituted back to human form after the right medicine had been administered by the Rev Bourland.

There is a connection with Sir Walter Scott, who acted legally for the Heritors of Bedrule Parish in a dispute against the Presbytery of Jedburgh in May 1793 in the Court of Session in Edinburgh, over the costs of building the new manse. The Heritors were not successful and presumably had to cover the costs. They must have appreciated his work though, for in 1801 he appears again as Counsel for them over a request by the Minister for an augmentation of stipend; put more simply, a request for a pay rise.

A small memorial on the north side of the church records Lt Anthony Fasson Royal Navy. He was brought up at Lanton Tower, in the Parish. Anthony Fasson was a career Officer in the Royal Navy and during the Second War was Executive Officer (second in command) of the frigate HMS Petard, and he lost his life when recovering a four wheeled enigma machine, codebooks and other items from a German submarine, U-559, in the Eastern Mediterranean on the 30 October 1942.

In recent years the church has also become a focal point for the Clan Turnbull and the castle site. A stone cairn was built with Turnbull Clan funds in the northeast corner of the churchyard in about 2005, recording the castle site close by, and the ‘Famous Rule Valley Turnbull Reivers’.

A new window was commissioned and funded by Wally Turnbull, Chief of the Clan Turnbull Association, in 2018 and designed by Sandy Milligan, an artist from Denholm. It was installed in spring 2019 and officially unveiled to a very full church on the day of Pentecost, the 9 th June. The former Minister of the combined Ruberslaw Parishes, Douglas Nichol came out of retirement for the event.