DUNFERMLINE, a royal burgh in Fife, of the western district of which it is the chief town. It is the seat of the sheriff courts of the district, which are held twice a week during the session. The town is situated on a long swelling ridge, 3 m. from the firth of Forth,. and 16 m. w.n.w. from Edinburgh. It stands 300 ft. above the mean level of the firth, and from the s. has an imposing appearance, The date of its origin is not known, but it was a place of note before the end of the 11th century. Here, king Mal colm Canmore and his queen, St. Margaret, between the years 1070 and 1093, founded an abbey for Benedictines brought from Canterbury. In 1808-4, Edward I. of Eng land wintered here, the buildings being then described as capable of accommodating three kings and their suites. In 1588, D. was created a royal burgh by James VI. David II., James I. of Scotland, and Charles I., were born here; and Malcolm Canmore, his queen Margaret, Edgar, Alexander 1. , David I., Malcolm the maiden, Alexander III., Robert Bruce, his queen Elizabeth, and nephew Randolph, Annabella, queen of Rob ert III., Robert. duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, were buried in the abbey and its precincts. The tomb of Robert the Bruce was discovered at the building of the new church, which was opened in 1821. The skeleton of the king was disinterred, and a cast was taken of the cranium. Some interesting fragments of the ancient regal and ecclesiastical magnificence of D. still remain. What is called Malcolm Canmore's tower is a mass of shapeless ruins, but the s. wall of the palace of the Stuarts still exists, overhanging the romantic glen of Pittencrief, a noble wreck, with massive flying but tresses. Of the abbey, the frater hall or refectory, and a tower and arched gateway,
still'remain. The nave of the abbey church, consecrated in 1150, is in the Romanesque style, 106 ft. long, and 55 wide. The choir, built about 1250, a fine example of the first pointed style, was taken down in 1818-21, when it was replaced by what is now the parish church, surmounted by a square tower 100 ft. high, round which is the, inscrip tion, iu open hewn capital letters, "King Robert the Bruce." The modern history of D. is chiefly remarkable in connection with the rise of Scottish dissent, Ralph Erskine and Thomas Gillespie having respectively been founders of the Seceder and Relief bodies, now joined under the name of United Presbyterians. The staple trade of the town is damask linen-weaving, which took its rise about the beginning of last century. There are establishments for the spinning of linen yarn, and several large factories where steam and hand loom weaving is carried on. There are likewise large collieries and lime works, iron foundries, breweries, dye-works, and fire-clay works. See DAMASK. The public buildings are, town-house and county buildings, each having a spire, and the prison, poor-house, and music hall. There are eight fairs, a monthly cattle-market, and one weekly market for grain and country produce. Pop. of parish '71, 23,313, of which the town contains 14,963. It joins with Stirling, Inverkeithing, Queensferry, and Culross in returning a member to parliament.