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Taught/practised on:
THE LADIES OF DUNSE
(R8x40)
RSCDS BOOK 26
1- 8
1s lead down the middle for 3 steps, back to top & cast to 2
nd
place
9-16
2s repeat 1- 8
17-24
2s followed by 1s dance full Fig of 8 round 3s, 2s dancing up to
1
st
place
25-32
1s+3s dance R&L, 1s end facing 1
st
corners
33-40
1s set to 1
st
corners then 2
nd
corners & turn partner RH 1½ times
Dance notes:
31-32
While 3L does include a polite turn, 1M does not do a polite turn,
but releases 3M’s left hand and dances into the centre of the set,
pulling back by the right, to face 3L.
The derivation of the name DUNS has been suggested as from the Celtic word DUN (a hill or a fort) or from the
French DUNE, a sandhill and if the Town originated in the Norman period, this is quite likely. The date of the
Town’s origins is uncertain. It may have been Saxon or even earlier but the first recorded mention of Duns occurs
in 1150 when Hugh de Duns witnessed a grant of the Church of Langtune to the Abbey of Kelso.
In the report of the burning of the Town by the Earl of Hertford in 1545, the spelling of the name is DOWNES.
There is also a reference to DUNES WOODE in 1377. The spelling of the name was altered to Dunse (when is not
definitely known), and the two forms seem to alternate in preference over the years. It was decided to revert to
the earliest spelling, Duns, at a public meeting on 25
th
May 1882 although Dunse still lingers in some names.