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 cast 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 lOth February 1304, and subsequently at the Reformation, on the 28th of March 1560. However, at the latter period, the nave escaped [7:8:282]destruction, and was used as a place of worship till September 1821, when the new church was opened for divine service. It is a splendid edifice, in the most elegant Gothic 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 pinnacles on the four corners, which give an elegant and appropriate 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 altered 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 columns, 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 magnificent and pleasing. Exactly below the pulpit, which is of wainscot, and in the Gothic style, he 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 buildings 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 Refectory or Fraters Hall, and a large window of elegant workmanship, 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 guildry; the chamber is occupied as a reading-room, and the rest of the building is fitted up as a hotel. The town-house is a narrow building, with a prison above. The council hall is adorned with some good paintings, and the whole is surmounted 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 independent 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 Dunfermline; it began originally with ticks and checks. The first table-linen manufactured here was a kind called hucka-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 L.200,000. Another important branch of industry 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 Erskine, 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.