Secret Dunfermline

The ancient Royal Burgh of Dunfermline has a long and proud heritage. This erstwhile capital of Scotland had strong royal connections until James VI relocated the Scottish Crown to London following the Union of Crowns on 1603. The Reformation in the mid sixteenth century has already seen a loss of the town’s ecclesiastical importance. These two events set in train a period of decline in Dunfermline’s fortunes, until the introduction of the linen industry in the eighteenth century and though the latter would not survive the First World War, the town’s economic future had by then been secured with the establishment of the Royal Navy dockyards at nearby Rosyth. Local author and historian Walter Burt delves into Dunfermline’s murkier past in this unique approach to the town’s history, blending the serious with the not so serious, and seeking out her hidden secrets.