DUNS CHURCH, Berwickshire.
Not a stone of this church now remains. The chancel existed till the year 1874 as a burial vault, when the minister of the parish, “under the pretext of improving the churchyard,”[187] had it removed. The greater
Fig. 345.—Duns Church. Plan.
part of the church was taken down in 1790, when a new church was built on its site. We are enabled by the kindness of Mr. Ferguson, Duns, to give a copy of an old plan which appears in his work on the Churches of Berwickshire, and to the same source we are indebted for the following historical notes regarding it.
The Rectory of Duns is mentioned in Bayamund’s Roll (1275), and in the ancient Taxatio (end of the twelfth century) the parish is rated at 110 merks; so that it must have been a building of considerable antiquity and importance.
In 1296, the Rector, Henry de Lematon, took the oath of allegiance to Edward I.
From a photograph in Mr. Ferguson’s possession, of what remains of the walls of the chancel the masonry looks very like Norman work. If one might judge from the plan ([Fig. 345]), it evidently consisted of a long nave and a chancel, with a north and south aisle or wing not opposite each other, and probably built at later periods, such as are common in connection with Scottish churches. The nave was about 72 feet long by about 19 feet wide. The chancel was almost a square of about 17 feet, thus corresponding with the Norman chancels of Ledgerwood and Duddingston.
The two narrow and widely splayed windows seen in the east gable indicate early work, as do also the north and south doors near the west end of the nave; the other numerous openings, especially of doorways, were probably alterations.