Dunfermline, located across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh, is well-connected to Edinburgh with frequent trains and buses (35 to 45m). Today a commuter town, Dunfermline was once a haven for the Scottish monarchy from the 11th through 17th centuries.
Things to do in Dunfermline:
Explore Dunfermline Abbey and Palace ruins
Visit the new Dunfermline Abbey and admire the huge Romanesque columns
Make a miniature brass rubbing of Robert de Bruce's Tomb
Enjoy a scone at the Abbot House, the oldest secular building in Dunfermline
Learn about Carnegie at the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum
Soak up some sunshine at Pittencrief ParkInspect 100 buses at the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum
Dunfermline has a storied past. Inhabited since the Neolithic period, the town got a boost when King Malcolm III married Saint Margaret in the town church in 1070. Margaret was raised a devout Catholic and educated by Benedictines. In her honor, the church was converted into a Benedictine priory.
King David elevated the priory to an abbey in 1128 and its influence grew rapidly. The Abbey held lands from Moray to Berwickshire. When Queen Margaret was canonized in 1250, the Abbey attracted many pilgrims. The church also served as a mausoleum for Scottish royalty, beginning with Margaret and Malcolm. King Edward I of England sacked and burned the Abbey after his stay in 1303, but the Abbey recovered somewhat before finally succumbing to the Reformation.
The palace was attached to the Abbey and a favorite among Scottish monarchs. Malcolm's medieval buildings were replaced with a great Renaissance hall under James IV's watchful eye. It was here that the future King Charles I was born, making him the last monarch to be born in Scotland. His son Charles II stayed in 1650 before the Battle of Inverkeithing. Under Cromwell, the palace fell into disrepair and now is a scenic ruin.
The abbey also continued to deteriorate, but the nave served as the Parish church. As more of the church threatened to collapse, a new structure was built in the 19th century incorporating King David's Romanesque nave. The geometrically carved columns are some of the finest examples from this period surviving in Scotland.
"No bright child of Dunfermline can escape the influence of the Abbey, Palace, and Glen. These touch him and set fire to the latent spark within, making him something different and beyond what, less happily born, he would have become. […] All my recollections of childhood, all I knew of fairyland, clustered around the old Abbey and its curfew bell, which tolled at eight o'clock every evening and was the signal for me to run to bed before it stopped.” Andrew Carnegie
Today, Dunfermline is a rapidly expanding commuter city for Edinburgh. Frequent trains connect the two cities in just over 30 minutes, making it an easy day out from Edinburgh. Bus service is also available, from 45 minutes.
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