The town was granted a Charter of Burgh of Barony by King James IV of Scotland in 1490, conferring a number of privileges particularly in regard to trade to the feudal superior, initially George and John Hume of Ayton, subsequently the Hays of Drumelzier. Among other things the feudal superior set up a Barony Court to provide for the collection of tolls, the regulation of trade, the settlement of civil disputes and to deal with minor criminal offences. The records, which have been transcribed by the Society for the years 1753 to 1800 and contain a wealth of detailed personal information, are available as an A4 size book, at a cost of £7.50 plus postage.
The town was probably originally situated on the slopes of Duns Law in an area now known as The Bruntons (or burnt town) but moved to its present location after being put to the torch in the English raids of 1544, 1545 and 1558.
Duns held a strategic position overlooking the Merse and the Cheviots and being very close to the border with England, was attacked and garrisoned by English armies until comparatively late on. The town prospered during the 18th and 19th centuries as a market town for the surrounding farms with the hiring fairs being regular events until the early 20th century. The Hearth Tax of 1694 lists over 40 occupations in the parish, and over 100 years later, 40 occupations can still be found in the Militia Lists.
This volume on CD also includes lists of the ministers of various churches, the monumental inscriptions of the parish church burial ground and memorial plaques, Christ Church (in Teindhillgreen) burial ground and war memorials, Duns War Memorial, War Memorial 1914 -1919, Roll of Honour, and indexes to the surnames in the inscriptions for both the burial grounds.
There are over 430 different surnames included in the inscriptions on the gravestones, and they are: Affleck, Ainslie, Aitcheson, Aitchison, Aitken, Allan, Allison, Allport, Ancrum, Anderson, Atchison, Atkinson, Attenborough, Bailie, Baird, Bairnsfather, Barber, Barclay, Bate, Bates, Baynham, Beale, Belches, Bell, Bellwood, Bertram, Bews, Binny, Bird, Black, Blackadder, Blackhall, Blackie, Blaikie, Blair, Bonne, Boog, Boston, Bowlby, Bowmaker, Boyd, Braidie, Branford, Braydon, Bretton, Bron, Brooks, Broun, Brown, Buchan, Burdon, Burgoin, Burn, Burnett, Burton, Cairns, Calder, Campbell, Carruthers, Carss, Cassy, Cathcart, Caverhill, Chalmers, Chapman, Chirnside, Clarke, Clements, Clerk, Cockburn, Cockshott, Colquhoun, Colson, Colvin, Coombe, Cooper, Cossar, Cosser, Coultman, Cow, Cowlie, Cox, Craig, Craik, Craw, Crawford, Crease, Crichton, Crombie, Crowder, Cruikshanks, Cumine, Cunningham, Curre, Curry, Cuttler, Darling, Davidson, Dawson, Daykins, Deas, Dempster, Dewar, Dick, Dickieson, Dickinson, Dickison, Dickson, Dixon, Dodds, Dods, Donaldson, Doubleday, Douglas, Drysdale, Duggan, Dunbar, Duncan, Duns, Dunse, Eccles, Edgar, Edgley, Edington, Elliot, Erskine, Everett, Ewart, Ewing, Fair, Fairbairn, Falconer, Farnington, Farrow, Ferguson, Fielding, Fife, Fleming, Flint, Forbes, Ford, Foreman, Forrest, Forsyth, Fraser, Frater, Frazer, Frost, Fulton, Galbraith, Gardiner, Garstin, Garven, Gaskell, Gavin, Gibb, Gibson, Gilbert, Gillie, Gillies, Golightly, Gopel, Gordon, Graham, Gray, Greak, Greene, Greenlaw, Grieve, Guthrie, Haig, Hair, Hall, Hamilton, Hastie, Hatelie, Hately, Hay, Heatley, Heatlie, Henderson, Henry, Heron, Hewit, Hill, Hillston, Hislop, Hogg, Holiwell, Hollis, Holyday, Holywell, Home, Hood, Horn, Houlison, Houliston, Houston, Howe, Howman, Hudson, Hume, Hunter, Hurst, Idington, Imhof, Ingles, Inglis, Irvine, Jack, Jaffery, Jameson, Jamieson, Jeffery, Jeffrey, Jeffreys, Johns, Johnson, Johnston, Kay, Ker, Kerr, King, Kinghorn, Kirkwood, Kitson, Knight, Knox, Lackenby, Lamb, Lamont, Landale, Landells, Landels, Landles, Lauder, Laurie, Lawrie, Lawson, Learmonth, Leitch, Leith, Leslie, Liddel, Liddell, Liddle, Lidster, Liel, Lillie, Lilly, Lisney, Lockie, Logan, Longstaff, Lorain, Lorrain, Lowrey, Lugton, Luke, Lunan, Lynn, Mabbott, Mabon, Machin, Mack, Mackenzie, Maddison, Mann, Marshall, Martin, Masey, Mason, Mavin, Maxwell, May, Mccrie, Mccullagh, Mcfarlane, Mcguffog, Mcleod, Mcwatt, Meiklejohn, Melrose, Menzies, Merlet, Mickle, Middlemiss, Millar, Miller, Milliken, Mitchelson, Mitchill, Moffat, Moffet, Moncrieff, Montgomerie, Moore, Morris, Morson, Moscrop, Mundie, Murray, Neilson, Newbigging, Nicholson, Nicolson, Nisbet, Nitsche, Norris, Ogg, Oliver, Ord, Park, Paterson, Patterson, Paxton, Peacock, Pearson, Peat, Penny, Pirie, Pottinger, Preston, Pringle, Proverbs, Purves, Queen, Rae, Ralston, Rankin, Readdie, Redford, Redpath, Renton, Richardson, Robertson, Robinson, Romain, Ross, Rouen, Russel, Russell, Rutherford, Sanderson, Sandilands, Sandys-lumsdaine, Scarth, Scott, Scoular, Sedgley, Seton, Sharp, Shaw, Shearman, Sheffeild, Shelton, Shiel, Sidey, Simenton, Simpson, Sligh, Smith, Snodgrass, Spence, Spencer, Spiers, Squire, Stanley, Steel, Steep, Stenson, Stephenson, Stevenson, Steveson, Stevinson, Stewart, Stirling, Stivenson, Stodart, Stoddart, Storey, Strachen, Sunderland, Swan, Swine, Symington, Tait, Taylor, Thatcher, Thompson, Thomson, Tibes, Tipper, Tod, Todd, Took, Tooney, Torrie, Trench, Trotter, Tuck, Turnbull, Utterson, Vallentyne, Virtue, Waddel, Wait, Waite, Waldie, Walkinshaw, Wate, Watherston, Watson, Watt, Weatherburn, Weatherhead, Webster, Weir, Wells, White, Whitehead, Whitelaw, Whitsom, Wight, Wigton, Wilkinson, Wilson, Winter, Wishart, Wolfe, Wood, Wyber, Yeoman, Young.
We are indebted to earlier writers without whose efforts; many inscriptions and descriptions of stones would have been lost. Many of the stones erected before 1855 at the parish church were recorded in 1970 but have worn extensively and some have completely disappeared.
Much of the recording work was done on a training weekend held in Duns last summer, and we thank all those volunteers for their efforts.
The CD costs £9 plus postage. To buy a copy of this CD or the Dunse Barony Records book, please contact Mary Thomson on our Contacts page using the contact type Order for Publications.
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