DUNFERMLINE, a royal burgh of Scotland, situated in the western district of the county of Fife, fifteen miles north-west of Edinburgh, in longitude 3. 27. 11. west, latitude 56. 5. 3. north. The town is built on an extensive eminence, having a pretty steep and uniform declivity towards the south, and likewise declining into a ravine on the west, which divides the more ancient part of the town from the extensive and extending suburb of Pittencrieff. This ravine is crossed by an earthen mound, on which an excellent street has been built, which equals the second-rate streets of the metropolis, and exceeds in its uniformity, and the splendid appearance of its shops, the principal streets of most country towns. The town is situated about 270 feet above the level of the sea, and about two miles and a half distant from Limekilns, the nearest place on the coast. It may be described as consisting of one principal thoroughfare, stretching from east to west, near the top of the eminence on which the town is built, which is intersected at right angles by streets running up and down the hill, terminating in a plain both at the top and bottom. From its elevated situation, the prospect all around is very extensive. Seen from the south or west, the town has a very noble appearance, principally from its irregular outline, and the many prominent objects, such as steeples and public buildings, with which the whole is adorned; and it is here and there interspersed with gardens and trees, which give it a very pleasing and picturesque appearance, flanked as it is on the east and west by the extensive policies of Viewfield and Pittencrieff. The building most worthy of notice is the Abbey Church, which has been erected on the site of the Church of the Holy Trinity, built by Malcolm Ceanmore, about the middle of the eleventh century; which was demolished by Edward I. on the 10th February 1304, and subsequently at the Reformation, on the 28th of March 1560. However, at the latter period, the nave escaped
Dunferm- destruction, and was used as a place of worship till Sep-
line. tember 1821, when the new church was opened for divine
service. It is a splendid edifice, in the most elegant Go-
thic style. Over the centre of the cross is erected a square
tower ninety feet high, terminating in a flat roof, round
the four sides of which, in open hewn work, are the
words "King Robert the Bruce," in capital letters four
feet in height, surmounted by royal crowns and lofty pin-
nacles on the four corners, which give an elegant and ap-
propriate finish to the whole. The old church forms a
very fine entrance to the new; and, were a little expense
laid out in some small repairs, it might be rendered still
more impressive. It is of various orders of architecture,
accordant with the different ages in which it has been al-
tered and repaired. The interior of the new Abbey Church
is even more elegant than its exterior. Its tower and
galleries are supported by magnificent pillars, moulded on
the solid mason-work with Roman cement, into small col-
umns, which form the aggregate pillar, the capitals of
which are adorned with exquisite imitations of foliage.
The ribs of the arches composing the different roofs and
the central ornaments are in the purest style, and, seen
from any point, the effect of the whole is at once magni-
ficent and pleasing. Exactly below the pulpit, which is
of wainscot, and in the Gothic style, lie the remains of
Robert Bruce; and in the north transept lie seven other
kings, two queens, and numbers of the nobility. Besides
the old church, all that now remains of the ancient build-
ings is the south-west wall of the palace, which hangs on
the brink of a deep hollow, through which runs a small
stream. A building over a gate, probably the principal
entrance to the palace yard, the south wall of the Refec-
tory or Fraters Hall, and a large window of elegant work-
manship, form the whole antiquities of the abbey and
palace. There is likewise some slight traces of Malcolm
Ceanmore's tower, which formed the original nucleus of
the town. The Guildhall, which was erected in 1808,
is a superb edifice of the Grecian order, having a spire
a hundred and thirty-two feet in height. It consists of
a large hall intended for meetings of gildry; the cham-
ber is occupied as a reading-room, and the rest of the
building is fitted up as a hotel. The town-house is a nar-
row building, with a prison above. The council hall is
adorned with some good paintings, and the whole is sur-
mounted by a spire. The Bank of Scotland is an elegant
building in the Abbey Park, surrounded with an extensive
policy. The High School is a beautiful building in the
Grecian style, and is taught by a rector and usher; the
Commercial Academy is in the form of a villa, where
the several branches of education are taught by two in-
dependent teachers, with assistants. A handsome new
row of houses has been erected at the eastern entrance to
the town.
The linen trade is of considerable antiquity in Dunferm-
line; it began originally with ticks and checks. The first
table-linen manufactured here was a kind called huck-
buck; this was followed in course of time by damask,
the richest and most ingenious kind of table-linen, which has
been for the last century improving in quality and pattern,
and is still continuing to be improved. The value of table-
linens and covers annually manufactured here is estimated
at about £200,000. Another important branch of indus-
try is the spinning of yarns and threads; there are eight
large spinning mills, at some of which the very finest
quality of yarns is manufactured.
This town is remarkable as being the theatre in which
the principal dissents from the established church have
taken their rise; namely, the Seceders under Ralph Er-
skine, and the Relief under George Gillespie.
The population of the parish in 1821 was 13,690, and of
the town 8041; in 1831 the former was 17,068, and the latter 10,624.