|
Admin
history |
The Abbey of Dunfermline was founded by Queen Margaret in the 1100s as a Benedictine priory, and was erected on the site of an earlier chapel. In 1128 the status of the building was increased by her son David I who made it an Abbey. In the same year he also extended the Abbey by erecting a new church. The western proportion of this new Abbey church was later to served as the parish church, the east being reserved for the monks. Reference to the parish church within the Abbey dates back as far as 1300. In medieval times the Abbey became an ecclesiastic center of significant importance in Scotland and was also the burial place of several Scottish Monarchs, including Robert the Bruce, whose tomb was rediscovered in 1818. During the reformation, with the exception of the nave, the Abbey Church was destroyed, however in 1593 it was rebuilt and remodeled to serve as the Parish Church of Dunfermline. The present day Abbey Church was built between the years of 1818-1821 on part of the old ruins and comprises the eastern end of Dunfermline Abbey. The kirk session sat within the Presbytery of Dunfermline, later of Dunfermline and Kinross and presently of Dunfermline once again. |