Scotland’s forgotten historical capital – BBC Journey

“We have been Europe’s fastest-growing city. Now we’re one in every of its most artistic and historic small cities. And Dunfermline was, after all, the traditional capital of Scotland.”

Like many Scots, I have been responsible of underrating Dunfermline. Though I have been to greater than 100 international locations as a journey author, I would by no means dived deep into the county of Fife’s new (and solely) metropolis, regardless of it shimmering simply throughout the Firth of Forth estuary from my dwelling in Edinburgh’s western suburbs. However the buzz of town standing rippling by means of the streets lastly offered the impetus to discover this historical city of cobbles and spires that was as soon as dwelling to kings and queens.

There have been murmurings of life in Dunfermline way back to Neolithic instances, however its story solely actually started with the wedding in 1069 of Scottish King Malcom III and Queen Margaret, a monarch canonised after her demise in 1093 for her devotion each to faith and the event of Dunfermline. Whereas the king constructed a fort stronghold on strategic excessive floor, whose ruins you may discover in Pittencrieff Park, Queen Margaret centered on all issues ecclesiastical along with her priory and a “Queensferry” throughout the Forth to move devotees away from Edinburgh to Dunfermline, placing Dunfermline on the map for the primary time.

Their union heralded a royal lineage in Dunfermline that lasted till 1603, when the Stuart dynasty – who by then reigned over England, too – shipped their courtroom to London. For these six centuries, Scotland’s historical capital was on the centre of Scottish historical past, leaving a tangible legacy that guests can stroll by means of in the present day.

I instantly received a way of Dunfermline’s illustrious historical past in its historic core: a Harry Potter-esque world of vaulting towers, cobblestones and graveyards that is simply as romantic as Edinburgh however with far fewer vacationers. It was right here that Queen Margaret first based her modest priory, round which mushroomed a church and an ever extra lavish Royal Palace, whose facade lies on the coronary heart of Dunfermline.

Hovering above the priory ruins is Dunfermline Abbey, the place a swathe of Scottish monarchs are buried. The abbey is a narrative of two architectural halves welded collectively: the oldest half, the Romanesque Abbey Nave, has roots within the twelfth Century; whereas the Nineteenth-Century New Abbey Church subsequent door is revered by Scots because the grand tomb of Robert the Bruce, the king whose victory led to Scottish independence within the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Initially buried within the nave, Bruce’s tomb turned the centrepiece of the brand new church, in-built 1818.

“There is no such thing as a understating the [historical] significance of Dunfermline as Scotland’s historical capital,” mentioned church custodian Willie Donaldson, as I admired the hanging brass flooring tomb. “Not solely Bruce and Queen Margaret, however Charles I used to be born right here, the final Scottish-born monarch of Britain, and in our graveyard is the final resting place of William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace’s mom.”

Meanwhile, Queen Margaret’s relics lie in newly renovated Church of St Margaret, only a brief stroll away. “Individuals from everywhere in the world have made pilgrimages to pay homage to Queen Margaret for hundreds of years, mentioned sacristan Tom Condy, as he confirmed me a fraction of her shoulder bone. “They make the pilgrimage in the present day to see our relic. Dunfermline could also be a metropolis now, however to pilgrims it has at all times been a deeply particular place of pilgrimage.”

Carnegie’s family arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with virtually nothing in 1848, but he made his fortune in the great era of the American railroads. And despite becoming the world’s richest man in 1902 after selling his businesses – which included a company that supplied steel for the Brooklyn Bridge – he stayed true to his Dunfermline roots.

“Carnegie is a giant in Dunfermline’s story, a backbone to the town that became a city,” said museum manager Mark McLeod, as he showed me around the cottage now dedicated to Carnegie as a museum and identified the modest mattress the place he was born.

Dunfermline wouldn’t have its Carnegie Library without him, either, the first of more than 2,500 Carnegie Libraries around the world, which was brilliantly reinvented in 2017 to house a civic museum and galleries that showcase Dunfermline’s fortitude. Downstairs, the general public library is woven across the previous sandstone constructing, whereas an ultra-modern riot of oak, glass and (in a tribute to Carnegie) metal, homes the museum and galleries, its floor-to-ceiling home windows peering out over Dunfermline Abbey. Guests can find out how town survived 1624’s devastating Nice Hearth and cholera epidemics, in addition to onerous instances within the Nineteen Eighties after financial deprivation hit because the previous textile mills declined.

Just to the west of the historical core unfurls Carnegie’s open-air legacy. Pittencrieff Park is a 76-acre bucolic oasis, known simply locally as “The Glen”. As a child, Carnegie wasn’t allowed to play in this private estate. So, in 1903, he bought the park and joyfully gifted it to Dunfermline so everyone could enjoy its walkways and gardens. As I walked under its giant redwoods and by its vibrant flowerbeds, I thought that of all his titles, “Laird of Pittencrieff” must have been one of the sweetest. Today, a giant statue of Carnegie presides over what was named Scotland’s Best Park in 2019 by Fields in Belief, a British charity that encourages inexperienced areas that convey advantages to communities.

This creative streak is celebrated with the annual Outwith Festival, which kicked off in 2017. The title (“outwith” is a Scottish English phrase that is equal to “outdoors”) harks again to the first-ever Edinburgh Pageant (the world’s largest arts pageant) in 1947, when an occasion throughout the water in Dunfermline Abbey was dubbed a part of “The Fringe” together with half a dozen occasions outdoors the primary pageant. Whereas the Fringe has since grown to grow to be the largest a part of the Edinburgh Pageant, the Outwith Pageant celebrates that sense of tradition “outwith” Edinburgh. It is vitally Dunfermline – the seven artistic venues work intently collectively, all inside strolling distance of one another – and can also be symbolic of the variations between the 2 cities, with Dunfermline’s Outwith Pageant on a relaxed, smaller scale.