Reminiscences

Lighting Dunfermline

In the next of his series of articles based on “Reminiscences of Dunfermline”, George Robertson presents Alexander Stewart’s description of life before gas lighting, both indoors and in the streets. He also discusses the means of communicating local news and announcements to the town – made by a bellman or, at a higher cost, by a drummer.

Dunfermline’s Post Office

George Robertson starts today a new series of articles on local history in which he features stories from “Reminiscences of Dunfermline – Sixty Years Ago“. This book by Alexander Stewart was published in 1886 and so these articles take us back in two steps. As George says, the book “captured the flavour of Dunfermline and it’s people at the time in question” and so provides a different perspective on our past.

The first article concerns “Dunfermline’s Post Office” and vividly illustrates the immense social changes which took place between the 1820s and the 1880s.