Artists
Amelia Paton – Sculptor
Amelia Paton was a talented artist and an accomplished sculptor, whose best known works are the statues of David Livingstone near the Scott Monument in Edinburgh and of Robert Burns in Dumfries. She was also the sister of the well known artist Sir Joseph Noel Paton and was married to David Octavius Hill, the artist and early pioneer of photography in Scotland. In “Amelia Robertson Paton” George Robertson relates her biography and her involvement in artistic life of Victorian Scotland.
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 opened in the 1820’s. In “Sir Walter Scott and his “Hawl” from Dunfermline Abbey“, Jean Barclay explains what happened.
Adam Westwood, Dunfermline Artist
Adam Westwood was a local painter who has left us some beautiful images of Dunfermline in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. In “Adam Westwood, Dunfermline Artist (1844 – 1924)” Jean Barclay gives us a concise summary of his life and work illustrated with some rarely seen examples of his work.
A Man of Many Parts, Daniel Thomson
In ‘Daniel Thomson: a Man of Many Parts’, Dr Jean Barclay tells us about the life of a local 19th century ‘man of letters’ whose prolific writings have done so much to illuminate our understanding of Dunfermline’s history.
Dunfermline’s `Genius` Architect
In Dunfermline’s `Genius` Architect, Dr Jean Barclay tells us about the life and achievements of William Stark. A pioneer of the Neo-Classical style, during his short life, William was to design, and adapt, some of the most important buildings in Scotland.