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...

Abbey Graveyard Research Group

Inverkeithing Local History Group Sue Mowat, will present a talk on the Abbey Graveyard on Wednesday 13 October at 7.30pm in Inverkeithing parish church. Non-members £1. The church is the part-medieval one with a clock tower in Inverkeithing main street. It is the...

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...

Elders with feet of Clay

In the fifth of our series of Tales from the Kirk Session, Jean Barclay recounts the stories of two kirk elders from the 1720’s who each got into trouble themselves. One was dealt with swiftly by Robert Ferguson’s case was more complicated. The tale...