Duns

Duns, a police burgh and county town of Berwickshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 2206. It is situated 44 m. E.S.E. of Edinburgh by road, with a station on the branch line of the North British railway from Reston to St Boswells. The principal buildings are the town-hall, county buildings, corn exchange, mechanics’ institute and the public library. There is a woollen mill, and stock sales are held at frequent intervals. The alternative spelling of Dunse seems to have been in vogue from 1740 till 1882. It was on Duns Law (700 ft.) that the Covenanters, under Alexander Leslie, were encamped in 1639, and the Covenanters’ Stone on the top of the hill has been enclosed to preserve it from relic-hunters. Duns castle, adjoining the town on the W., includes the Tower erected by Thomas Randolph, earl of Moray (d. 1332), and about 3 m. S.W. is the village of Polwarth.