How to Behave in Church

Jean Barclay has been searching through the archives and has discovered an interesting article written in the 19th Century. “Proper decorum to be observed in the Church especially during Divine Service” by David Birrell gives us perhaps a different and...

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...

The Dunfermline Seducer

In the next of our occasional series of “Tales from the Kirk Session” Jean Barclay has looked into the case of a man who was moving from Dunfermline to Muckhart and needed the permission  of the Session, which, in this case, was not easily obtained.

Handsel Monday

As we approach the first Monday of a new year, it’s interesting to hear how this used to be the day of the main mid-winter celebration in Dunfermline. But after the calendar was changed in 1752, which date should be used? In “Auld Handsel Monday”...

Christmas Banned!

In the next in our “Tales from the Kirk Session” series, Jean Barclay describes the very slow re-emergence  of Christmas after the Reformation. “The Kirk that Stole Christmas” describes these changes, from the attempted abolition of the holiday...