Dunfermline without the Handlooms?

In “An Excellent Goose for Dunfermline“, our last new article for this year, Jean Barclay brings to our attention an unusual newspaper article written in 1865 and collected in the “Folio of Oddities”. In it, the unknown author speculates on how Dunfermline may have developed, or rather , not developed, had the Damask Linen business not become established. This gives us an unusual assessment of how important hand-loom weaving industry actually was to the growth of the town.