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Kingdom of Fife |  |
Contents |  |
Fife Towns & Parishes |  nearby places |
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| Charlestown Crossford Crossgates Dunfermline Halbeath |
Limekilns Milesmark North Queensferry (until 1891) Townhill Wellwood |
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| Please read the main Fife pages if you have not already done so. | |
Dunfermline Carnegie Library has a large collection of genealogy and local History materials, as well as the more recent archives of the former burghs of the Dunfermline district.
The Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum has excellent displays about the town's famous benefactor.
West Fife Museums Small Gallery and the Pittencrieff House Museum also contain displays about the History of the town.
Old Dunfermline (Stenlake Publishing) contains many photographs and full descriptions.
There are 4 cemeteries in Dunfermline parish:
1. Dunfermline Abbey, St Margaret Street, Dunfermline (grid ref. NT 089873):
2. Dunfermline Cemetery, Halbeath Road, Dunfermline (grid ref. NT 105881):
3. Douglas Bank Cemetery, Pattiesmuir, by Rosyth (grid ref. NT 091838):
4. North Queensferry Churchyard, Chapel Place, North Queensferry (grid ref. NT 131808):
Monumental inscriptions are listed in "Fifeshire Monumental Inscriptions (pre-1855) vol. 2 The western parishes" by John Fowler Mitchell & Sheila Mitchell, published by the Scottish Genealogy Society. ISBN 0901061972
Parish / district reference number for 1841 - 1901 censuses: 424. Some parts in 432 from 1861 until 1891 (see Civil Registration).
The 1851 census has been indexed by the Tay Valley Family History Society.
Further information on the main Fife page.
The original Old Parish Records (of baptisms / births, proclamations / marriages, and burials) of the Church of Scotland, which cover the years up to 1854, are held in the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh, and copies on microfilm may be consulted in local libraries and at LDS Family History Centres around the world. The baptisms / births and proclamations / marriages (but not deaths) can also be searched at Scotland's People - the online database of Scottish Birth, Marriage, Death & Census records at the General Register Office. The index can also be searched on the LDS FamilySearch website.
Deaths are listed on Fife Family History Society's Pre-1855 Fife Deaths CD.
The old parish records span the following dates (although there may be gaps within these ranges):
| Dunfermline OPR | Births / baptisms | Proclamations / marriages | Deaths / burials / mortcloths |
| 424/1 | 1561-1611 | 1561-1611 | |
| 424/2 | 1612-1652 | 1612-1651 | |
| 424/3 | 1652-1715 | 1652-1715 | |
| 424/4 | 1715-1747 | 1715-1745 | |
| 424/5 | 1748-1755 | 1745-1755 | |
| 424/6 | 1756-1775 | ||
| 424/7 | 1776-1791 | ||
| 424/8 | 1792-1806 | ||
| 424/9 | 1807-1819 | ||
| 424/10 | 1750-1819 | ||
| 424/11 | 1617-1657 | ||
| 424/12 | 1820-1825 | ||
| 424/13 | 1825-1834 | ||
| 424/14 | 1834-1854 | ||
| 424/15 | 1820-1854 | ||
| 424/16 | 1820-1842 | ||
| 424/17 | 1842-1854 | ||
| 424/18 | 1825-1854 | ||
| 424/19 | Index 1834-1854 |
| Data supplied by General Register Office for Scotland |
The 1865 Ecclesiastical Directory lists the parish church, a second charge of the Established Church, Established Churches of St Andrew's and Dunfermline North, 3 Free Churches - Free Abbey, Dunfermline North and St Andrew's, 4 United Presbyterian Churches in Dunfermline - Gillespie, Chalmers Street, Queen Ann Street and St Margarets, United Presbyterian Churches in Limekilns and Crossgates, the Roman Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church (Trinity), the Baptist Church, the Evangelical Union Church and the Congregationalist Church.
The following records are also held by the General Register Office for Scotland in Edinburgh. They are not included on the OPR microfilms but have been filmed as part of the Minor Records series:
| Baptisms | Deaths | |
| Dunfermline MR45/1 | 1790-1832 | |
| Dunfermline MR45/1 | Index 1790-1832 | |
| Limekilns Burgh Seceders MR65/1 | 1782-1865 |
The following are held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh:
| Baptisms | Marriages | Burials | |
| Dunfermline Associate Congregation | 1748-1854 | ||
| Dunfermline North | 1851-1920 | 1851-1902 | |
| Dunfermline Abbey | 1761-1857 | ||
| Dunfermline Roman Catholic congregation (RH21/83) | 1846-1858 | 1847-1858 |
The Dunfermline North Baptisms (1851-1854) are available on the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society's website.
Roman Catholic marriages which took place in Dunfermline prior to 1855 have been transcribed and published by the Fife Family History Society in Publication 22 - Fife Roman Catholic Marriage Registers 1793 - 1854.
The following are held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, and an index to them has been published by the Fife Family History Society Baptismal Registers No. 1. They are also available on the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website:
| Dunfermline St Margaret's UP | Baptisms |
| CH3/1232/1 | 1851-1854 |
The Episcopal Church in Dunfermline (Holy Trinity) has registers which are still kept by the church. Those for the period before 1855 are listed below. A transcript of these entries has been published by the Fife Family History Society Baptismal Registers No. 4:
| Dunfermline (Holy Trinity) | Baptisms | Marriages | Deaths |
| 1840-1854 | 1840-1854 | 1840-1854 |
Kirk Session and similar records for the following churches are held by the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh:
| Dunfermline Abbey | CH2/592 |
| Dunfermline North | CH2/641 |
| Dunfermline St Andrew's | CH2/1321 |
| Dunfermline Associate / Free | CH3/95 |
| Chalmers Street Antiburgher (United Presbyterian) | CH3/569 |
| Queen Street / Erskine Burgher (United Presbyterian) | CH3/568 |
| St Andrew's South (Brucefield / St Ninian's) Free | CH3/463 |
| Abbey St Columba's (Free) | CH3/413 |
| St John's | CH3/411 |
| St Margaret's United Secession (United Presbyterian) | CH3/1232 |
| Townhill Free | CH3/1218 |
| Crossgates Burgher (United Presbyterian) | CH3/1192 |
| Limekilns Burgher (United Presbyterian) | CH3/794 |
| North Queensferry Free | CH3/1294 |
| Dunfermline North Free | CH3/411 |
| Crossford West (United Secession, UP) | CH3/572 |
| Dunfermline Gillespie Relief | nil |
| Dunfermline Maygate United Secession | nil |
| Crossford Free | nil |
Heritors' Records (HR159) are at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh.
Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths began in Scotland on 1st January 1855. Full information on the main Fife page.
| Registration district | number | start date | end date |
| Dunfermline burgh | 424/1 | 1855 | 1877 |
| Dunfermline landward | 424/2 | 1855 | 1877 |
| Dunfermline | 424 | 1878 | 1971 |
| Dunfermline | 432 | 1972 | 2002 |
| Fife | 432 | 2003 |
Registration districts did not necessarily coincide exactly with parishes. In the 20th century especially, there were frequent changes in registration districts. Parts of Inverkeithing parish were included in Dunfermline registration district, and parts of Dunfermline parish were included in Inverkeithing registration district, until 1891.
Dean of Guild Court records and Nine Merk Court records are held at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh (B20).
Records of the Convener's Court (1686-1772) and the burgh police court (1941-1970) are held at the Local History Department, Dunfermline Central Library.
On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is an index to Dunfermline Burgh Register of Deeds (1700-1884).
Records of the Regality Court of Dunfermline (from 1531) are held at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh (RH11/27).
Records of Dunfermline Sheriff Court are held at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh (SC21). They include Ordinary Court Minute Books (1811-1901); Register of Decreets (1830-1970); register of Sequestrations (1845-1900); Small Debt Court records (from 1825); Criminal Court records (from 1825); and Commissary Court records (from 1960).
The aliment decrees (1830-1854) have been extracted from the Register of Decreets and indexed by the Fife Family History Society Journal, vol.8 no.3, April 1996. They are also available on the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society's website.
| Dunfermline town centre | Ordnance Survey Grid Reference | GPS | Post code | Lat. 56°4'14"N |
| NT 091874 | 56.070758 -3.461750 |
KY12 7NW | Lon. 3°27'44"W |
There is a comprehensive collection of links to Dunfermline information at the Annals of Dunfermline Links Page.
There is an informative Dunfermline website.
On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is a transcription of Westwood's 1861 Parochial Directory of Fife.
Prior to 1891, Inverkeithing parish had a detached portion entirely surrounded by Dunfermline parish. The village of North Queensferry, on the other hand, was part of Dunfermline parish.
On 15th May 1891, the following subjects were transferred from the parish of Inverkeithing to the parish of Dunfermline: Brucehaven, Milesmark, Whitemyre Foundry, Blackburn, Logie, Urquhart, North Urquhart, Lady's Park and some properties in Dunfermline Burgh.
On the same date, the following subjects were transferred from Dunfermline parish to Inverkeithing parish: Carlingnose, Ferryhills, North Cliff, Fernbank House, Ferrybarns, Rockville, St Margaret's, and the whole village of North Queensferry.
Also on the same date, a part of Dunfermline parish north of the south march of Moreland (comprising Moreland House & Moreland Hill lands) was transferred from the parish of Dunfermline to the parish of Cleish in the county of Kinross. This formalised an arrangement by which the area had been treated as being part of the county of Kinross for some time.
A Vision of Britain provides historical descriptions, population & housing statistics, historic boundaries and maps.
The Annals of Dunfermline by Ebenezer Henderson is an excellent History of Dunfermline.
The Ordnance Survey [Place] Name Books 1850-1854 are held at the Fife Council Archive Centre. There is an index to the entries for this parish on the Fife Council website (select A in the A-Z list, then Archives).
Andrew Campbell has produced Fife Deaths from Newspapers 1822-1854 - a compilation of deaths recorded in local newspapers. Copies of this index are held by the Fife libraries and the Family History Societies.
Fife Deaths Abroad 1855-1900 - a compilation of overseas deaths recorded in Fife newspapers - has been produced by Andrew Campbell of Fife Family History Society. The Society have re-published it in their Publications Series, 27 and 28 (for Limekilns and North Queensferry).
A list of Dunfermline Hammermen, 1585 - 1862, extracted from the Minute Books of the Dunfermline Hammermen Incorporation, held by Dunfermline Museum, has been published by the Fife Family History Society in Publication 13 - Trade Incorporation Records.
A list of Dunfermline Wrights, 1677 - 1763, extracted from the Incorporation of Wrights of Dunfermline Minute Book, held by the National Library of Scotland, has been published by the Fife Family History Society in Publication 14 - Trade Incorporation Records. It is also available on the Records pages of their website, along with a similar listing of Dunfermline Weavers (1596-1863).
Records of Dunfermline City Police Officers are held at the Fife Council Archive Centre.
Peter Higginbotham's website has a lot of information about Dunfermline combination poorhouse.
| Year | Population | |
| 1755 | 8552 | |
| 1801 | 9980 | |
| 1851 | 21687 | |
| 1901 | 31697 | * boundary changed |
| 1951 | 50831 |
See also A Vision of Britain for population statistics.
Prior to 1824, wills, testaments & inventories of residents of Dunfermline may be found in either the St Andrews Commissariot (CC20) or the Edinburgh Commissariot (CC8) records. From 1824 to 1960, commissary business was conducted by the Sheriff Court of Fife at Cupar (SC20). From 1960, it has been conducted at Dunfermline (SC21) Sheriff Court.
Indexes and finding aids are given on the main Fife page.
Local sources worth searching for deeds include St Andrews Commissary Court, Cupar Sheriff Court and Dunfermline Burgh Register of Deeds.
School Board Records and / or school logbooks are held at the Fife Council Archive Centre.
The older archives of the former Burgh of Dunfermline are held at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh (B20). They include council records from 1488, registers of protests, register of tacks, protocol books (from 1557), registers of deeds (from 1638) and registers of sasines (from 1670-1946).
On the Records pages of the Fife Family History Society website there is an index to Dunfermline Burgh Register of Deeds (1700-1884).
The more recent archives of the former Burgh of Dunfermline are held by the Local History Department, Dunfermline Central Library. They include Council Minutes (from 1851), Police Commissioners Minutes (from 1837), Parochial Board Minutes (from 1848), Parish Council Minutes (from 1895), Accounts, Valuation Rolls and Committee Minutes.
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