Walk Around Nave Old Abbey Church With Music On History Visit To Dunfermline Fife Scotland

Tour Scotland 4K travel video, with Scottish music, of a walk around the the interior of the Nave of the old Abbey church on ancestry visit to Dunfermline, Fife, Britain, United Kingdom. Three Churches have stood on the site covered by the present Nave. The first of these, the original Celtic church in which Malcolm King of Scots married, about A.D. 1068 as his second wife, Margaret the fugitive Saxon princess. The second was the one Malcolm built for Margaret and was begun in 1072 and probably completed in 1075. The outlines of these two churches are clearly shown on the floor of the Norman Nave of the Abbey. The Nave may have been begun by King David I in 1124; it was not dedicated till 1150. Geoffrey of Canterbury was chosen Abbot in 1124, but was not actually consecrated until 1129. The last Abbot was George Durie, who fled to France in 1560 during the troubled times of the Reformation. Between 1124 and 1560 Dunfermline Abbey had 37 abbots. Entering the Nave and looking to the east, there are five Norman pillars on the left side and six on the right with semi circular pier arches supporting the inner wall. The pillars are 20 feet in height, 13½ feet in circumference and have cushion tops. Two of the pillars are incised with a chevron design, the result of which is no produce an optical illusion, and the pillars appear to be of unequal diameter from top to bottom. The side aisles are 17½ feet wide, 29 feet high and 92 feet long. The length of the Nave from the western door to the entrance to the new church is 106 feet, and the breadth 55 feet. On looking upwards one can see the beautiful Norman triforium and clerestory with their walls and nook shafts. Robert Pitcairn. Commendator of Dunfermline, Papal Legate, and Secretary to James VI ws interred in the north aisle in 1584. The beautiful Durie Window, by Elizabeth Goudie of Edinburgh, in blue and yellow stained glass, incorporating small portion of pre Reformation Glass was erected in 1933. The south or Rood aisle is a marvel of twelfth century work. On the floor will be seen a circular stone covering an old well. Opposite the well is an aumbry. The majority of the arcadings in the aisle have been repaired, the exceptions being the first three next to the original East Processional Door. The window over the west door, known as the Carnegie window, depicting Wallace, Margaret, Malcolm and Brue, designed by Sir Noel Paton, and the cost was borne by Andrew Carnegie. In the north or St Mary’s aisle the first window by Meures of Munich is a memorial to the Reid family. The second window is a Kempe. The third window is the Durie window, the fourth, the Halkett of Pitfirrane window; and finally another Meures of Munich. The windows in the south, or Rood, aisle are fine stained glass. The first, next to the east processional doorway, was a gift by Andrew Carnegie in memory to his mother and father. The second one is the oldest in the Church in memory of Queen Annabella, Consort to King Robert III and mother of King James I of Scotland. The third in memory of Peter Chalmers, minister of the Abbey for 52 years. The next two are the Douglas windows, by Ballantine and Gardiner, and the last, under the south tower, a beautiful stained glass window by Burne Jones. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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