Peter Chalmers, minister and antiquary

The Dunfermline Historical Society recently received a portrait photograph of the Reverend Peter Chalmers, a minister of the Abbey Church, a local historian and an influential figure in Dunfermline life in the 19th Century. Jean Barclay has researched his life and in...

Walter Scott’s Abbey Haul

Many of you will have visited Abbotsford House near Melrose, extravagantly built and furnished by Sir Walter Scott. But did you know that much of the ancient wooden panelling was “salvaged” from the old Dunfermline Abbey Church, when the new church was...

Elders with feet of Clay

Tales from the Kirk Session by Dr. Jean Barclay The Elder at the Plate by H C Preston In the early 1720s the Dunfermline kirk session consisted of the two ministers and 25 elders who were subject each year to ‘privy censure’ to ensure they were ‘circumspect in their...

New Book “Secret Dunfermline”

By Robin Thompson Secret Dunfermline Gregor Stewart Amberley Publishing, £14.99 Secret Dunfermline is a short account of the history of the town and it’s surrounding area which, as the publisher says,  “delves into the town’s murkier past, blending the serious with...