Ashkirk is a small village of about 250 inhabitants situated off the A7 some 5 miles south of Selkirk. Hawick is a further 7 miles south. The village and environs boast a village hall, a garage, a pub, a beautiful 18 hole golf course, and an equestrian centre. The village hall is used by the church for social functions and the occasional church service.
The delightful country church of Ashkirk sits confidently but modestly about half a mile south of the village centre on a wooded slope that rises steeply to the northwest overlooking the lovely Ale valley. It rests on an ancient site hallowed by Christian worship for nigh on a thousand years. Though a Christian influence in the area reaches back before even the mission of St Cuthbert in the late 6th century, the little church surrounded by ash trees is first mentioned in the records of the See of Glasgow in 1140 when it was valued as a place of rest and recuperation for bishops from the city and later for what could be commandeered from the produce of its extensive lands.
The present building, “well loved and well maintained,” was completed in 1790. As part of its bi-centenary celebration in June 1990, a rowan tree (mountain ash) was planted beside the church to symbolise both its ancient origin and its continued life.
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.”
Somehow Ashkirk survived but the recovery must have been slow and painful. In the following years the Kirk itself was thrown into upheaval and controversy with the establishment of the Reformation and the ensuing struggles of the Covenanting period. It was not until the 18th and 19th centuries that peace and stability were such as to allow the development of a prosperous agriculture. With a great increase in the population of the Parish, the Kirk reached its heyday and could, in this period, consistently boast a membership of 600 –700. Further modern development has seen a huge reduction of the number of workers employed on the land. Many farm cottages are now holiday homes or places of retirement. More positively, however, some town workers and the retired have found Ashkirk an attractive and welcoming place to settle and there has been a significant number of new houses built. We expect this trend to continue, offering new opportunities of outreach to the Church. At present the Church roll is 50.