The Royal Burgh of Dunfermline (in Gaelic, Dùn Phàrlain) is a town in Fife, Scotland. It sits on high ground 3 miles from the shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh. The town is the historic capital of Scotland and Robert the Bruce is buried within Dunfermline Abbey.

History of Dunfermline

The history of Dunfermline goes back to a remote period, for the Culdees had an establishment here. The name comes from the Gaelic "Dùn Fearam Linn" which translates as "the fort in the bend of the stream". There is no documentary evidence for the name being derived from 'Parlan' or anything of the sort, other than the modern form of the name in Scottish Gaelic. The monks of the abbey called the Tower Burn, 'Aqua de Ferme' and the 'Ferm' element in the name dates back to documents of the eleventh century.

The cities increased fame and prosperity date from the marriage of Malcolm Canmore and his Queen Margaret, which took place 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 (see Dunfermline Abbey). Robert the Bruce gave the town its charter in 1322, though in his Fife: Pictorial and Historical (ii. 223), A. H. Millar contends that till the confirming charter of James VI (1588) all burghal privileges were granted by the abbots.

In the 18th century Dunfermline impressed Daniel Defoe as showing the "full perfection of decay", but it regained prosperity. A staple industry was the manufacture of table linen. The famous Dunfermline lodge of free gardeners was founded in 1715[3] with the support of the Earl of Moray and the Marquis of Tweedale[4]. 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 after that date the linen trade advanced by leaps and bounds, much of the success being due to the beautiful designs produced by the manufacturers.

Among other industries that have largely contributed to the welfare of the town are dyeing and bleaching, brass and iron founding, tanning, machine-making, brewing and distilling, milling, rope-making and the making of soap and candles.

The town is well supplied with public 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 Paton’s painting of the "Spirit of Religion." Other structures are the County buildings, the Public, St Margaret’s, 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 .