Dunfermline & West Fife

Experience the living past in ancient Dunfermline where you can walk through 900 years of Scottish history in a day.

Dunfermline's royal and monastic past dominate the town which boasts a royal palace, a 12th Century abbey (which is the final resting place of Robert the Bruce and the burial site of eleven other Scottish kings and queens), the restored 15th Century Abbot House and the cave in which St Margaret bathed the feet of the poor. King Malcolm Canmore established his court after the death of Macbeth at the now ruined fortified tower in the heart of Pittencrieff Glen. Dunfermline was the birthplace of James I in 1394 and of Charles I in 1600. 

It is also the birthplace, in 1835, of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Trust have benefited the town greatly. The first of many Carnegie Libraries was built here in 1881 and both Carnegie Hall and Pittencrieff Park were gifted to the town by the 'Star-spangled Scotchman'. Carnegie's birthplace, a humble weaver's cottage has been preserved and extended to include a museum of his life.

Close by is the Royal Burgh of Culross, with its picturesque 17th Century cottages, now fully restored. Meander through the cobbled streets skirting the shoreline of the Firth of Forth, overlooked by the red pan-tiled roofs of the harled whitewashed cottages. Culross was once an important religious centre and was the birthplace of St Mungo, patron saint of Glasgow.

Along the coast lies Limekilns, the ancient port of the Benedictine monks of Dunfermline. Follow the coastal walkway east, past the magnificence of the Forth Bridges, to Aberdour, with its fine castle, granted by Robert the Bruce to his nephew in the 14th Century.

Dunfermline and West Fife lie at the very heart of Scotland's fascinating history, where the past is still very much alive.