Duns

Coordinates: 55°46′42″N 2°20′33″W / 55.77838°N 2.3426°W / 55.77838; -2.3426

Duns (historically Scots: Dunse) is the county town of the historic county of Berwickshire, within the Scottish Borders.

History

Early history

Duns law, the original site of the town of Duns, has the remains of an Iron Age hillfort at its summit. Similar structures nearby, such as the structure at Edin's Hall Broch, suggest the area's domestic and defensive use at a very early stage.

Middle Ages

The first written mention of Duns is prior to 1179, when a 'Hugo de Duns' witnessed a charter of Roger d'Eu, of a grant of the benefice of the church of Langton to Kelso Abbey. The town is further mentioned when a 'Robert of Douns' signed the Ragman Roll in 1296. The early settlement was sited on the slopes of Duns Law, close to the original Duns Castle built in 1320 by the Earl of Moray, nephew of Robert the Bruce. The town was frequently attacked by the English in border raids and as they headed north to the Lothians. In 1318 at Duns Park, the Earl of Dunbar, Sir James Douglas, and Sir Thomas Randolph met with their respective forces, prior to the retaking of Berwick by the Scots. In 1333 the Guardian of Scotland, Sir Archibald Douglas, mustered an army in Duns to march on Berwick, which at that time was under siege by the English. The Scots troops were heavily defeated at the Battle of Halidon Hill.

Duns (disambiguation)

Duns is a former county town of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders.

Duns may also refer to:

See also

Data Universal Numbering System

The Data Universal Numbering System, abbreviated as DUNS or D-U-N-S, is a proprietary system developed and regulated by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) that assigns a unique numeric identifier, referred to as a "DUNS number" to a single business entity. It was introduced in 1963 to support D&B's credit reporting practice. It is a common standard worldwide. DUNS users include the European Commission, the United Nations, and the United States government. More than 50 global, industry, and trade associations recognize, recommend, or require DUNS. The DUNS database contains over 220 million entries for businesses throughout the world.

Details

The DUNS number is a nine-digit number, issued by D&B, assigned to each business location in the D&B database, having a unique, separate, and distinct operation for the purpose of identifying them. The DUNS number is random, and the digits have no apparent significance. Until approximately December 2006, the DUNS number contained a mod-10 check digit to support error detection. Discontinuing the check digit increased the inventory of available DUNS numbers by 800 million. There is no charge to obtain a DUNS number. (As of 4/8/2014, the website shows that there is a charge of USD 500 and the time to create the number is 24 to 48 hours. When obtaining a DUNS number online, the wait is usually 30 business days, but assignment of a number can be immediate for UK businesses who provide their company registration number. When purchasing the "Small Business Starter" from Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp the wait time reduces to 5 business days or less.)