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Dunfermline Abbey
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Dunfermline signifies, in Gaelic, The fort by the crooked rivulet; which
fort refers to the building called Malcolm Canmore's tower that was
placed on the peninsular mount in Pittencrieff glen. Dun signifies
either a hill or a fort, because the strongholds were generally built on
eminences. Fiar means crooked or winding, and and loin or lyn, a pool
and a running water. In after times dun in Gaelic, and tun in Anglo-saxon,
came to signify a dwelling, a steading a village, a town.
Research notes:
• Jesus and Nathaniel.
Firm: Ballantyne & Son, Edinburgh.
Date: 1877.
Inscription: BEHOLD AN ISRAELITE INDEED IN WHOM IS NO GUILE. [John 1.
47.] IN
MEMORY OF JAMES DOUGLAS ESQ AND HELEN BLACK HIS WIFE. ERECTED
BY THEIR SON DAVID DOUGLAS WRITER TO THE SIGNET 1877. FORWARD.
NEW MEMORIAL WINDOW IN THE ABBEY CHURCH.—A new memorial stained glass
window has been placed on the south side of the Abbey Church. The
inscription it bears is as
follows:—“In memory of James Douglas, Esq., and Helen Black, his wife.
Erected by David
Douglas, Writer to the Signet—1877.” The central part of the window
shows several figures,
illustrative of the interesting Scripture narrative of the Saviour
greeting Nathaniel. The
window is also adorned with the Douglas Coat of Arms, very effectively
arranged. In
executing the work, Messrs. Ballantyne & Son, Edinburgh, have displayed
much artistic skill
and taste.
Dunfermline Saturday Press, 11.8.1877, 2c.
• Doubting Thomas.
Firm: James Ballantyne, 42 George Street, Edinburgh.
Date: 1878.
Inscription: ST JOHN XX 27 28. [Doubting Thomas.] IN MEMORY OF ROBERT
DOUGLAS OF ABBEY PARKS. ERECTED BY HIS WIDOW. ALSO IN MEMORY
OF HER FATHER AND MOTHER DAVID BLACK OF BANDRUM AND MARY
SUTHERLAND HIS WIFE. 1878.
ANOTHER STAINED-GLASS WINDOW FOR THE OLD ABBEY.—On Wednesday, another
stained-glass window was inserted in the south-westmost corner of the
Old Abbey, which
brings the number of memorial windows up to eight. The new window has
been presented by
Mrs Robert Douglas, Abbey Parks, and is in memory of her husband and
father and mother.
The style used is Gothic, and the subject is “Doubting Thomas”—taken
from John, xx. 27-
28—and represents Christ standing before the disciple, pointing to the
print of the nails in his
hands and feet, and also the mark of the spear in his side. The design
is the work of Mr Jas.
Ballantyne, 42 George Street, Edinburgh; and has been very artistically
finished, and the
window will compare with any of the others erected in the Old Abbey. The
following is the
inscription at the bottom of the window:—
“In memory of Robert Douglas, Abbey Parks. Erected by his widow. Also,
in memory of
her father and mother—David Black of Bandrum, and Mary Sutherland, his
wife, 1878.”
Dunfermline Saturday Press, 4.5.1878, 2d.
NEW STAINED GLASS WINDOW IN THE ABBEY.—During the past week an important
addition has been made to the window decoration of the Abbey. A stained
glass window has
been placed in the aperture at the south west corner of the building,
and bears an inscription,
of which the following is a copy—“In memory of Robert Douglas of Abbey
Parks—erected
by his widow—also in memory of her father and mother, David Black of
Bandrum, and Mary
Sutherland his wife—1878.” The execution of the work has been entrusted
to Messrs James
Ballantine & Sons, George Street, Edinburgh, who have successfully
represented, in the
antique style of glass staining, the passage from the life of our Lord,
where Thomas places his
fingers in the wound in his side. All the windows on this side of the
building are now filled
with stained glass, and the appearance of the Abbey is thus much
enhanced. Perhaps it may
not be considered out of place if we here draw attention to the state of
the stained light
surmounting the west door of the building. An ugly fracture has been
made in it by a stone or
some such missile, and the whole of the window is very much bulged
inwards; indeed, it
appears, as if a good north-westerly gale would blow it in bodily.
Dunfermline Journal, 4.5.1878, 4b.
• Among other stained glass widows are memorials of the local
families of
Hunt, Spowart, Reid, Alexander of Dr Chamers, the local historian, and
of Dr Douglas, whose wife was related to Dr John Mackie a physician of
high repute in Court circles in the eighteenth century, who claimed for
his
family a Highland ancestry extending back through many generations.
• The Wars of Independence predate the fashion for accurate
portraiture: the weathered, generic military effigy of Sir James Douglas
is one of the few to survive in Scotland. Later centuries saw a need and
supplied it by a crowd of images of its historic heroes, William Wallace
and Robert the Bruce, each depicted according to contemporary taste and
imagination.
• In 1818, when the workmen were clearing the site of the ancient
choir,
preparatory to the erection of the new Church, a body, afterwards
identified as that of King Robert, was found in a vault near the site of
the
high altar of former days. The body was about six feet long, and the
breast bone was seen to have been sawn to permit of the removal of the
heart, which Sir James Douglas essayed to carry to Jerusalem, in
accordance with the desire of the pious King. As is well known, Sir
James died in a conflict with the Saracens in Spain, and the heart was
brought back to Scotland for burial in Melrose Abbey. When the new
Church was in course of erection in 1819, the skeleton of the patriot
King, having been re-wrapped in its original leaden winding sheet and
placed in a leaden coffin filled with melted pitch, to preserve the
remains
from further decay was placed in the Bruce vault, mid-way between the
two transepts.
• Until a few years ago Queen Anne Street Church was seated
for 2000
persons. By a change in the front wall in 1898 the barn-like shape of
the
great meeting-house has been appreciably modified; while an internal
renovation with the introduction of a fine organ and of two beautiful
memorial windows, by the Sloane family of New York as a tribute to the
piety of their grandmother, Euphemia Douglas, who was baptised here,
has proved a highly successful modernisation, though it has reduced the
sitting accommodation.
• Despite the prohibition on upright monuments it was not long
before they began to appear in the churchyard, but this time with the
sanction of the Heritors. In October 1860 the widow of Robert Douglas of
‘Craigdhu’ in Abbey Park Place asked the Management Committee to allow
her to place a monument over her husband’s grave. They agreed as long as
it was no more than three feet high. Robert Douglas owned four lairs,
numbers 284-7 and a monument still stands on his grave, although not the
original one which has been replaced with a pedestal some two metres high
on which stands a coffin-shaped slab bearing the inscription ‘Robert
Douglas of Abbey Park died 25th July 1858 aged 80 years’. The pedestal
on which this remnant of the original monument stands bears a marble
insert which commemorates his parents and siblings.
A second marble insert has fallen out of its mount.
• Among the records of the Dunfermline Heritors is the following
receipt:
Dunfermline 21 August 1840
Received for the Heritors of the Parish of Dunfermline from Mr Francis
Danks, Elgin Colliery
Two Pounds Two Shillings sterling, being the price of two Grave Rooms
(marked in the Plan Nos. 555, 556)
in the New Burying Ground of Dunfermline. Rot Douglas Treasurer
• List of births with no father's name:
David Henderson DOUGLAS 13 January 1864 Mary DOUGLAS
Jessie DOUGLAS 8 January 1867 Janet DOUGLAS
Richard Hardie DOUGLAS 30 July 1870 Agnes DOUGLAS
Thomas Arthur DOUGLAS 30 December 1859 Janet DOUGLAS
See also:
• 18th century deeds
• Dunfermline records
• The royal Burgh of
Dunfermline
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Sources
Sources for this article include:
•
The Journal Guide to Dunfermline, 1929
• Dunfermline Abbey; John Marshall, 1910
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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