Did You Know… …that an elegant granite fountain used to stand in Queen Anne St? It stood from 1860 to 1924, was given to the town by an Aberdeen medical doctor and shared it’s name with a former village to the north of Dunfermline. The Lassodie Fountain by George Robertson Ebenezer Henderson, on page 682 of his “Annals of Dunfermline”, states the following – “LASSODIE FOUNTAIN – This elegant granite fountain built into the northwest corner Queen Anne Street Church boundary wall has the following inscription cut upon it – Lassodie Fountain. Presented to the City of Dunfermline, by Henry A. Dewar, M.D., Aberdeen. 1860”. In fact the fountain was positioned at the southwest corner of the wall, at the junction of Pilmuir Street and Queen Anne Street, but who was Doctor Dewar and why was the fountain named after an estate – later a coal mining village – situated northeast of Dunfermline between Kingseat and Kelty? Dr Henry Andrew Dewar, a surgeon/dentist working and living in Aberdeen, was a member of the family who, for many generations, were the owners of the Lassodie estate. He was one of the six children of Henry Dewar of Lassodie – also a Doctor – and Helen Margaret Spence, an American from Philadelphia. (1) This explains why the fountain was named after the Dewar estate – but why was it positioned in such a prominent place in Dunfermline? Again, the answer lies with the name Dewar. Dunfermline’s Secessionist Minister, the Rev….
What Happened to the Monks of Dunfermline Abbey?
We all know that during the reformation, the Abbeys were abolished. Much of Dunfermline Abbey is now ruined, but the Church, of course, is still in use. But what about the people involved? What Happened to the Monks by Sue Mowat David Aitken, the Dean of Guild, was worried. It was November 1559 and life around Dunfermline was becoming dangerous for both political and religious reasons. Extreme Protestants, known as the Congregation, who were determined to abolish the Catholic Church, were becoming stronger by the day. In May, inflamed by a sermon preached by John Knox, a band of Protestant zealots had sacked a church, some friaries and a monastery at Perth and since then there had been several ‘reformations’ in the East Neuk of Fife, including one at St Andrews. Noblemen and senior clergy who supported Protestantism had combined to form a body called the Lords of the Congregation which recruited its own troops to oppose those of the Catholic Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, and in July they had occupied Edinburgh and forced Mary to leave the city. In October the Lords had set up their own ‘Great Council of the Realm’. By this time Mary had brought troops to Scotland from her native France and had sent them into Fife to deal with further unrest at St Andrews. The Dean of Guild was particularly concerned about the possible fate of the Holy Blood altar in the parish church, of which the Guild was patron. He was fearful that the altar’s valuable silverware might be plundered…
George Kay and Sons, Coach-builders
by George Beattie Born in 1854, George Kay served an apprenticeship as a coach-builder with the firm of David Doig who had premises in Randolph Street, Dunfermline. In 1881, he entered into a partnership with William Darroch Wilkinson and founded Messrs Kay and Wilkinson, Coach-builders, operating from a small workshop off New Row, Dunfermline. The Dunfermline Trades Directory of 1885 shows Messrs Kay and Wilkinson, Coach-builders, at 8, 10 and 12 New Row. The 1888/89 directory shows that the firm was operating at St. Margaret’s Coachworks, North Inglis Street. Mr Wilkinson was a Glaswegian and he left the business shortly thereafter to start a coach-building enterprise for himself, named Comely Park Coach Works, at 89 Priory Lane, Dunfermline. George Kay, however, carried on St Margaret’s Coachworks under his own name and soon gained a reputation as a master craftsman in the art of building and repairing horse-drawn carriages of the Victorian era such as landaus, broughams, dog carts, etc. In 1912, the firm moved again to larger premises at No. 34 Inglis Street where the business was to operate until 1976, when re-development of that area necessitated a further move to more modern premises in Campbell Street. During the early part of the century George Kay was joined in the business by his three sons, Dick, Jimmy and John. Dick and Jimmy served their apprenticeships as coach-painters whilst John was trained to run the office. Dick, who in later years would play a…
John McChlery – McLean’s Headmaster for 37 years
John McChlery, Headmaster of McLean School 1848 – 1885 by Elaine Campbell In the second half of the nineteenth century the residents of Dunfermline would have been familiar with the name of John McChlery but like many of our esteemed citizens of the past his name is now unknown. John McChlery was born in 1820 in Stonykirk, Wigtownshire the son of a farmer. From an early age John had decided to become a teacher. In the 1840’s he entered the Church of Scotland Training College in Glasgow and also attended Glasgow University. In 1848 he gained his teacher’s certificate and in the same year a vacancy occurred for a headmaster of the McLean school in Dunfermline and thus started John McChlery’s 37 year career as the head of the McLean school. With the passing of the years, the people of Dunfermline frequently referred to the school as the Golfdrum School or ‘McChlery’s School’. The present McLean School, which is located in Baldridgeburn, Dunfermline was opened in 1896. The original school building however, was in Golfdrum Street next to the North Parish Church. When the Rev Allan McLean, who was minister at the Abbey Church, died in 1836 he left a bequest to build a school “to provide education at a low fee for the children of the working and poorer classes of the town and parish of Dunfermline and particularly of those residing in the suburbs of the town.” The suburbs at that time consisted of the area to the north and…
Call for articles!
We are always looking for short articles on local history topics which will be of interest to visitors to the site. Have you an interesting recollection of life in Dunfermline? Do you know an unusual piece of local history? These can appear either as articles or shorter “Did You Know” pages on this site or as links to documents published elsewhere online. Authors retain copyright of any material submitted. We invite all members to submit articles to the editors.