Yarrow: Church History

The following quotation comes from the Imperial Gazetteer of Scotland, edited by John Marius Wilson and published in 1868. This reference was found in volume II, page 868:

"The ancient parish of Duchoire, a name which has been corrupted into Dewchar, forms the north-eastern part of the united parish of Yarrow. Its church and the stronghold of its feudal proprietor stood on a burn which comes down to the Yarow immediately east of the present parish church. The ancient parish of St Mary's forms the western district of the united parish of Yarrow. Its church stood on the margin of St Mary's lake, and gave name to that lake. The church, as its designation implies, was dedicated to the Virgin Mary; it was described colloquially as 'St Mary's kirk of the Lowes' or lochs, and in charters as 'the Church of the Virgin Mary in Ettrick Forest'; and it seems to have become a vicarage under the monks of Dryburgh."