A fug-hoose was a place for quiet wonder and contemplation, Seated amongst the ferns, moss and heather, those with time for leisure might enjoy fine vistas or other beauties of nature. Many lover’s trysts were enjoyed within such peaceful mossy bowers.
The ornamental grounds of many great estates had their summerhouses and gazebos at which fine ladies and gentlemen might pause and converse as they promenaded around the grounds. In the rugged gardens of Scotland, the fashion was for the fog house (meaning “moss house”); a rustic structure blending into the natural landscape often lined with moss, turf or other vegetation. Examples were described as “like a haystack scooped out” or “as snug as a bird’s nest”. Queen Victoria had various fog-houses scattered around her Balmoral estate.
In Windrow Wood, a well-known fog house commanded an impressive view across the deep wooded glen of the Windrow Burn towards the village of Douglas and to Douglas Castle about two miles to the north east. The fog-house was described in 1876 as “a spot of surpassing loveliness and which has been a favourite place of resort for the fair ladies of Douglas for many generations” In 1891, another correspondent reminisced how in childhood “we sat in the fog house and surveyed the links of Douglas Water, opening up into our view of the Douglas Castle policies with their beautiful lakes with their far-famed castle gardens.“
Windrow wood was a long-established plantation that provided shelter to the planned landscape of the Douglas estate. The 1850’s OS maps shows a network of paths through the trees and a small building perched perilously close to a precipitous slope of down to the burn. This was presumably the fog-house, which early postcards picture as rather a lofty structure with a tall thatched roof, which was large enough to squeeze in a dozen of more people. With the landowner’s consent, Windrow Wood was a popular destination for excursionist. One account of a school outing in August 1880 described how “the grateful shade of the wood was much welcomed and, notwithstanding the broiling sun overhead, the party were enabled to do the “Fog House”, “The Woman’s Grave” and the gardens lately made there, with comparative ease”.
Looking up from the valley to the Woman’s Grave
Historian J.D. Hutchison, writing in 1940, recorded that during the cholera epidemic of 1832, a female tramp collapsed beside the road and was taken to Glespin smithy where she died. Fearing spread of the disease, the body was hastily interred in a corner of Windrow Wood. At some time later, a headstone simply inscribed “Eliz. Campbel” was set up among the trees, In 1879 local stationmaster P. Carmichael published a poem entitled “A Legend – The Grave in the Windrow Wood” which greatly embroidered on past events, It told the story of a woman, travelling with babe in arms, who was shunned when seeking help at local farms, and with the last of her energy dragged herself to a turf covered shelter in the woods where she lay down and died:
“Despised and abhorred as an outcast from heav’n,
She laid hersel’ doon ‘neath a turf-covered shed
Yet nae skill was brought an’ nae sympathy given,
To quiet her thirst or to pillow her head ”
This Victorian tear-jerker, and the supposed grave, weaved a legend surrounding the fog-house, and encouraged thoughts of things supernatural that might emerge in the wood after dark. One level-headed factor however observed that “kelpies, warlocks and such nocturnal visitants who were said to haunt the woods” are most likely “to appear at most unlikely times to disconcert the minds of honest farmers as they returned home on market days.” It might be noted that Douglas once boasted a good number of public houses.
Site of fog-house, looking up from the glen.
Much was done to extend the amenity and productivity of the Douglas estate during the second half of the 19th century. An elegant lodge house – Windrow Cottage – was built to guard the entrance to the glen and woods, and provide a home for the gamekeeper. In 1880 (according to J.D. Hutchison) the estate employed many of Douglas’ unemployed weavers to build a carriageway within Windrow Glen. This was an impressive piece of engineering which included a neat stone bridge over the burn, and a turning loop carved into the sides of the valley. One might imagine the distant sunny days when horse drawn carriages would convey fine ladies and gentlemen deep into the glen. They might alight near the mineral spring and continue along a short footpath beside the rhododendrons to get a better view of the Fog House perched high above them at the top of the steep walls of the glen.
Windrow Bridge, carrying the carriageway across the burn
Windrow Wood is now a densely planted conifer plantation, making the site of the Fog-House difficult to access. The carriageway along the glen remains part of the footpath network, although much decayed and currently closed for forestry operations. Fine ash trees once lined much of the route beside the burn, but have been affected by disease and have been decimated by recent high winds.
A winter walk along the carriageway in Windrow Glen
Robin Chesters, 11th February 2025
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