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 (1) comments

  Thankyou Havering on for alerting me to the new blurb on Duns drafted by VisitScotland. An improvement on the old entry but still curt almost to the point of dismissive

Formerly the county town, Duns still retains the air of an old Scottish burgh with its spacious market square.
In earlier times, Duns' wealth and importance rested on its thriving livestock market and like many Border settlements, it has had a turbulent history, evidence of which can still be seen in and around the town.

Duns Castle, whose grounds are now a park and bird sanctuary, was redeveloped in 1820 around a 14th-century peel tower given by Robert the Bruce to Randolph, Earl of Moray. Nearby Greenknowe Tower is set in beautiful surroundings and the small kirk at Ellemford is where James IV met his commanders before the disasterous Battle of Flodden in 1513. Atop the hill of Duns Law to the north of the town, stands the Covenanters' Stone, a memorial to the Covenanter army who camped in the area, ahead of their battle with Royalist forces at Berwick in 1639. Rising some 700 feet above sea level, the Law offers commanding views of the Merse and the rich, low-lying farmlands running out from the coast.

Also worth visiting in Duns are Manderston House which offers a fascinating insight into 'upstairs, downstairs' life, and the Jim Clark Museum, a unique centre devoted to the late world Formula 1 champion racing driver who hailed from Chirnside.

Duns is also recognised as the likely birthplace of John Duns Scotus, the great medieval philosopher who taught at the University of Paris during the 14th century. A bronze statue of Duns Scotus stands in the public park.



No mention of the Reivers-a plus-of Rabbi Burns' visits and he found it without any help from VisitScotland and of the Dingers stinging victory over English invaders (cattle thieves?) in 15 something-so no explanation of Duns Dings A.

Back to the drawing board

Labels: Duns, Duns Dings A, VisitScotland

  ¶ 8:04 AM (0) comments

 
A VISION FOR DUNS

A distinguished Eyemouth man has written to the Berwickshire as follows:

Duns was described in a recent tourist handbook for Scotland as a “sleepy rural town hardly worth visiting and hence rarely visited”!
Yet Duns is full of history!
Duns Park is probably where the Scottish army assembled in 1318 before assaulting Berwick at the time held by the English.
Duns Castle was granted by Robert the Bruce to his nephew the Earl of Moray and rebuilt in 1320. The town was created a Burgh of Barony by James 1V in 1490 and Duns Law was the camp of the Covenanting Armies in 1640.
No history! Not worth visiting?
This letter is the result of “Thought for the Week” which reminded us that Duns is the birthplace of one of the great scholars of history.
Why should Duns not create a new history and become a great intellectual centre perhaps eventually a university town like towns even smaller? Duns to become a town known for its reputation for philosophy as its son Duns Scotus was but this time embracing many ways of thought – a centre not only for Christian spirituality and its mystical traditions but for all the religious movements past and present Zen Buddhism, the Upanishads, Guru Nanak, Sufism, the Kabbalah, Taoism, Bahai and many more.
Most things begin in small ways, often very small ways but always with a vision.
I would beg the people of Duns to create such a vision! Create history - a future - a new history, and one suitable to our times when very many young people are looking to things spiritual. Man does not live by bread alone. The young dream dreams but so should their elders.


The University of Duns-The Scotus Ecumenical and Way Out Faiths Centre, 'Dingers Outthink A, the new town motto-how the tourists would flock in!

There's a thought! Better than just dwelling on the wretched Reivers?


And no mention of Jim Clarke.

(The image is apparently of Duns Scotus in deep cover waiting for the Reivers to go past on their way to Ye Olde Dunse Civic Weeke)

Labels: Duns Dings A, University of Duns

  ¶ 9:23 AM (0) comments

 


As a PS to the post immediately below Huttonian's cameraman has reurned cold foot from Duns after a photographic safari with a few images of the lights in the Market Square. The Christmas Tree has an unusual feature: a gigantic cracker (the kind to pull, not to eat) with a collection slot for cash 'towards the cost of the Christmas decorations' I wonder how many p that will attract?

You will note the prominence given to the Town motto-perhaps the cracker has one inside as well?

Labels: Christmas lights, Duns, Duns Dings A

  ¶ 5:46 PM (2) comments