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Comment by William Douglas on Tuesday

Ashkirk Parish Church
Dramatic changes have overtaken the parish in the course of its thousand year history, each leaving its impact on the fortunes of the Kirk. Peaceful beginnings soon gave way to centuries of great turbulence. Thanks to the proximity of the English border and the endemic weakness of the Scottish monarchy, Lords and Barons were allowed to become a law unto themselves and raiding became a way of life for many powerful families of notorious border reivers. The nadir was reached in the tragedy of Flodden Field which left most of the able-bodied men dead on the battlefield and the whole area in a defenceless state. Seizing the moment in 1514, Lord Dacre, with the backing of the king, marched northwards from Hexham with a large army to wreak havoc and further the slaughter. Towards the end of his campaign he entered the Ale Valley and nothing was spared, “from Ashkirk to the Alemoor Tower.” The cattle were driven off, the town destroyed and the countryside burned and laid waste, “so that no seeds could be sown.”