Dunfermline, Fife : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Dunfermline. You may be able to find further references to Dunfermline in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Dunfermline parliamentary and royal burgh, manufacturing town, and parish Bartholomew
Dunfermline a city and parish Groome

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Dunfermline.

Place Type of entry Source
Appin an estate, with a colliery Groome
Appin an estate with colliery Bartholomew
Baldridge place Bartholomew
Baldridge several localities Groome
Balmule an estate, with a mansion Groome
Blackburn village Bartholomew
Bowershall a village Groome
Bowershall village Bartholomew
Broomhall the seat Groome
Brucefield a village Groome
Cairncubie copious springs Groome
Charlestown seaport village Bartholomew
Charlestown a seaport village Groome
Craigluscar a hill Groome
Crossford a village, with a public school Groome
Crossford hamlet Bartholomew
Devon, Black or South a small river Groome
Ducraig a rocky islet Groome
Dunduff school Bartholomew
Fairway a sunken rock Groome
Halbeath a collier village Groome
Halbeath mining village with railway station Bartholomew
Keavil seat Bartholomew
Keavil a mansion Groome
Kingseat a collier village Groome
Kingseat mining village Bartholomew
Limekilns coastal village Bartholomew
Logie seat Bartholomew
Logie a mansion Groome
Masterton village Bartholomew
Masterton a village Groome
Middledean village Bartholomew
Middledean a hamlet Groome
Milesmark and Parknook conjoint village Bartholomew
North Queensferry village with railway station Bartholomew
Pettymuir village Bartholomew
Pitfirrane a mansion Groome
Pitfirrane Park seat Bartholomew
Pitreavie an estate, with a mansion Groome
Pitreavie seat Bartholomew
Pittencrieff seat Bartholomew
Pittencrieff a mansion Groome
Queensferry, North a village Groome
Queensferry, North village Bartholomew
Roscobie A place, with extensive lime works Groome
Roscobie place with limeworks Bartholomew
Townhill colliery village Bartholomew
Townhill a collier village Groome
Wellwood Colliery village Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Dunfermline within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Milesmark 0 2
Cairneyhill 0 2
Limekilns 0 2
Rosyth 2 2
Charlestown 0 2
Carnock 0 2
Crossgates 0 2
Inverkeithing 4 2
Mossgreen 0 2
Hillend 0 2
Beath 0 2
Blair 1 1
Oakley 0 2
Torryburn 0 2
North Queensferry 2 3
Donibristle 1 2
Blackness 3 2
Saline 0 1
Hopetoun 5 2
Cowdenbeath 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Dunfermline. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
DUMFERMLINE James Boswell The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (Oxford, Mississippi, 2004).
Thomas Pennant A Tour in Scotland 1769 (London: Benjamin White, 1776).
DUMFERMLING Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
DUNFERMLINE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
DUNFERMLING William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.