The English were coming but changed their minds



Who hasna read in Border Lore
That Duns o'ferlies hauda a store
Her Castle, Hen Poo, Bogs and Law
Whae disna ken that "Duns Dings A'"

Certainly the Duns Summer Festival souvenir programme has more interesting stuff on Dunse than you can find anywhere else-VisitScotland's pathetically uninformative website especially included. The verse above is from Duns Dings A'-and goes on;

Whae hesna heard o'Doctor Broun
O'John Duns Scotus lairnit loon*
O'Tammas Bouston, Auld McCrie
And lesser lichts-like you and me?



Apparently in 1377 the Earl of Northumberland was unwise enough to camp in Dunse Wood-he was a long way the wrong side of the Border. Of course his intentions may have been entirely innocent like waiting for the Co-op to open the next day-but the Dunse folk were taking no chances (Duns having been burnt to the ground a couple of times the previous twenty years or so) At dead of night, well after the pubs were closed, they crept out of town with their rattles for scaring off deer and wild boars- a sort of stone filled tambourine made with dry skin and framed with sticks and held them aloft making a 'dinging' noise. The English party awoke to find their houses had broken loose and fled and they then had to retreat on foot towards the Tweed harried by the 'Dingers' No written records survive but a battle supposedly took place at the Bluidy Burn which ran with blood for three days.


Rumm'le the drum and toot the trump,
Gaur Bouston's auld 'Drumclogger' thump
Till a'oor cocks flee up and craw
Wi lusty thrappie, 'Duns Dings A'

(* Loon in a complimentary sense, one assumes)

Any one desperate to find out the meanings of all these words can find a Scotch dictionary on line (http://www.scots-online.org/dictionary/ )

The image is of Duns Castle. The Reiver and his party call on the Hay family to convey 'the respects of the inhabitants of Duns' On their way to the Bluidy Burn.Count Huttonian on on that, next year.

Labels: Duns Dings A, The Duke of Northumberland, The English are coming

  ¶ 10:46 AM