Dunfermline Abbey

Dunfermline Abbey stands in the centre of Dunfermline, Fife, on ground once occupied by a small priory built by Malcolm III and his queen Saint Margaret in the 11th century. The present church uses the nave of the great Benedictine abbey founded in 1128 by their son David I. Parts of the medieval abbey survive: the refectory’s south wall with its fine window, the gatehouse rooms that once formed part of the town wall, and the Romanesque west front with its massive doorway. A later church in Perpendicular style was built in 1821 on the site of the ancient chancel and transepts, and beside the abbey lie the ruins of Dunfermline Palace. The abbey is one of Scotland’s most important cultural sites, second only to Iona in the number of royal dead buried here. Among those interred are Saint Margaret and Malcolm III, King David I, Alexander III, and Robert the Bruce, whose bones were reburied beneath the pulpit in 1818. The tomb of Saint Margaret was restored by Queen Victoria, and the brass marking Bruce’s vault remains in the floor of the modern church. The abbey also hosted Edward I’s court in 1303 and was a major pilgrimage centre because of Margaret’s shrine. Visitors enter through the Romanesque nave with its sturdy pillars and west doorway. The south wall of the refectory still shows the fine window uncovered in 1903, and the gatehouse rooms above the town wall can be seen nearby. Inside the modern church, the pulpit marks the site of Bruce’s vault, and stained-glass windows donated privately fill the interior with colour. Outside, the ruins of the Lady chapel enclose the restored tomb of Saint Margaret, while the palace ruins stand just beyond the gatehouse.