Dunfermline
Dunfermline,
(Gaelic, the fort on the crooked linn ), is a royal burgh
in Fife. It is situated on high ground just 3 miles from the
shore of the Firth of Forth. The town is intersected from
north to south by Pittencrieff Glen, a deep, picturesque and
tortuous ravine, from which the town derives its name and
at the bottom of which flows Lyne Burn.
The
history of Dunfermline goes back to a remote period, for the
early Celtic monks known as Culdees had an establishment here;
but its fame and prosperity date from the marriage of Malcolm
Canmore and his queen Margaret, which was solemnized in the
town in 1070. The king then lived in a tower on a mound surrounded
on three sides by the glen. A fragment of this castle still
exists in Pittencrieff Park, a little west of the later palace.
Under the influence of Queen Margaret in 1075 the foundations
were laid of the Benedictine priory, which was raised to the
rank of an abbey by David I. Robert Bruce gave the town its
charter in 1322.
In
the 18th century Dunfermline impressed Daniel Defoe as showing
the full perfection of decay, but it became one of the most
prosperous towns in Scotland. Its staple industry was the
manufacture of table linen. The weaving of damask was introduced
in 1718 by James Blake, who had learned the secret of the
process in the workshops at Drumsheugh near Edinburgh, to
which he gained admittance by feigning idiocy; and since that
date the linen trade has advanced by leaps and bounds, much
of the success being due to the beautiful designs produced
by the manufacturers.
Among
other industries that contributed to the welfare of the town
were dyeing and bleaching, brass and iron founding, tanning,
machine-making, brewing and distilling, milling, rope-making
and the making of soap and candles, while the collieries in
the immediate vicinity were numerous and flourishing.
The
town is well supplied with interesting buildings. Besides
the New Abbey church, the United Free church in Queen Anne
Street founded by Ralph Erskine, and the Gillespie church,
named after Thomas Gillespie (1708-1774), another leader of
the Secession movement, possess some historical importance.
Erskine is commemorated by a statue in front of his church
and a sarcophagus over his grave in the abbey churchyard;
Gillespie by a marble tablet on the wall above his resting-place
within the abbey. The Corporation buildings, a blend of the
Scots Baronial and French Gothic styles, contain busts of
several Scottish sovereigns a statue of Robert Burns, and
Sir Noel Patons painting of the Spirit of Religion. Other
structures are the County buildings, the Public, St Margarets,
Music and Carnegie halls, the last in the Tudor style, Carnegie
public baths, high school (founded in 1560), school of science
and art, and two hospitals. Several distinguished men have
been associated with Dunfermline. Robert Henryson (143oI 506),
the poet, was long one of its schoolmasters. John Row (1568-1646),
the Church historian, held the living of Carnock, 3 m. to
the E., and David Ferguson (d. 1598) who made the first collection
of Scottish proverbs (not published till 1641), was parish
minister; Robert Gilfillan (1798-1850), the poet, and Sir
Joseph Noel Paton (1821-1901), painter and poetwhose father
was a designer of patterns for the damask tradewere all born
here. Andrew Carnegie (b. 1837), however, is in a sense the
most celebrated of all her sons, as he is certainly her greatest
benefactor. He gave to his birthplace the free library and
public baths, and, in 1903, the estate of Pittencrieff Park
and Glen.
Dunfermline
Abbey is one of the most important remains in Scotland. Excepting
Iona it has received more of Caledonias royal dead than any
other place in the kingdom. Within its precincts were buried
Queen Margaret and Malcolm Canmore; their sons Edgar and Alexander
I., with his queen; David I. and his two queens; Malcolm IV.;
Alexander III., with his first wife and their sons David and
Alexander; Robert Bruce, with his queen Elizabeth and their
daughter Matilda; and Annabella Drummond, wife of Robert III.
and mother of James I. Bruces heart rests in Melrose, but
his bones lie in Dunfermline Abbey, where (after the discovery
of the skeleton in 1818) they wer~ reinterred with fitting
pomp below the pulpit of the New church. In 1891 the pulpit
was moved back and a monumental brass inserted in the floor
to indicate the royal vault. The tomb of St Margaret and Malcolm,
within the ruined walls of the Lady chapel, was restored and
enclosed by command of Queen Victoria. During the winter of
1303 the court of Edward I. was held in the abbey, and on
his departure next year most of the buildings were burned.
When the Reformers attacked the abbey church in March 1560,
they spared the nave, which served as the parish church till
the 19th century, and now forms the vestibule of the New church.
This edifice, in the Perpendicular style, opened for public
worship in 1821, occupies the site of the ancient chancel
and transepts, though differing in style and proportions from
the original structure. The old building was a fine example
of simple and massive Norman, as the nave testifies, and has
a beautiful doorway in its west front. Another rich Norman
doorway was exposed in the south wall in 1903, when masons
were cutting a site for the memorial to the soldiers who had
fallen in the South African War. A new site was found for
this monument in order that the ancient and beautiful entrance
might be preserved.
Of
the monastery there still remains the south wall of the refectory,
with a fine window. The palace, a favorite residence of many
of the kings, occupying a picturesque position near the ravine,
was of considerable size, judging from the south-west wall,
which is all that is left of it. Here James IV., James V.
and James VI. spent much of their time, and within its walls
were born three of James VI.s childrenCharles I., Robert and
Elizabeth. After Charles I. was crowned he paid a short visit
to his birthplace, but the last royal tenant of the palace
was Charles II., who occupied it just before the battle of
Pitreavie (20th of July 1650), which took place 3 miles to
the south-west, and here also he signed the National League
and Covenant.
