Dunfermline Palace is a ruined former Scottish royal palace and important tourist attraction in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It is currently, along with other buildings of the adjacent Dunfermline Abbey, under the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.
Origins
Dunfermline was a favourite residence of many Scottish monarchs. Documented history of royal residence there begins in the 11th century with Malcolm III who made it his capital. His seat was the nearby Malcolm's Tower, a few hundred yards to the west of the later palace. In the medieval period David II and James I of Scotland were both born at Dunfermline.
Dunfermline Palace is attached to the historic Dunfermline Abbey, occupying a site between the abbey and deep gorge to the south. It is connected to the former monastic residential quarters of the abbey via a gatehouse above a pend (or yett), one of Dunfermline's medieval gates. The building therefore occupies what was originally the guest house of the abbey.
There are few records of building the palace and converting monastic buildings to royal use. Timber was bought for the royal lodgings in 1429. The existing remains largely reflect the form in which the building was remodelled by James IV around 1500 from the monastic Guest House. James IV came to the palaces and gave tips to masons and craftmen in 1507. The building was restored and remodelled later in the century, and William Schaw worked on the building in 1590 preparing it for Anne of Denmark. An account for glazing the palace in 1654 and a description by John Macky are important sources for the lost buildings.
History
James IV
James IV and his wife Margaret Tudor frequently stayed at the palace. In November 1504 Margaret Tudor was in residence when two people were suspected of having plague. James IV was away in the north of Scotland. The queen left for Edinburgh with her household servants, including African women known as the "More lasses", who went first to Inverkeithing. This was a false alarm.
James V (1512–1542) and his second wife Mary of Guise also used the palace. On 14 June 1562 after dinner at Dunfermline, Mary, Queen of Scots, produced a gold ring set with a heart shaped diamond and declared she would send it to Queen Elizabeth with some verses she had written herself in Italian. At this time a meeting of the two queens was discussed.
Anne of Denmark
James VI stayed at Dunfermline Palace in June 1585 to avoid the plague which raged in Edinburgh. He had a proclamation made to regulate the prices of food, drink, and lodgings for his courtiers in Dunfermline town. In 1589 the palace was given as a wedding present by the king to his bride Anne of Denmark. She gave birth to three of their children in the palace; Elizabeth (1596), She would sometimes travel between Edinburgh and Dunfermline by boat, taking meals at South Queensferry. She improved the palace during the decade.
Anne of Denmark was given the lands formerly belonging to Dunfermline Abbey, and was known in charters of abbey lands as the "Lady of Dunfermline". In February 1596, Alexander Seton, Lord Urquhart, was appointed as her Bailie and Keeper and Constable of the palace. The palace staff included the keeper John Gibb, the chamberlains of the estates David Seton of Parbroath, William Schaw, and Henry Wardlaw of Pitreavie, the gardener John Lowrie, the plumber James Coupar, who fixed the lead roofs, and Thomas Walwood, foreman of the coal pits. She was entertained by an English musician John Norlie and her fool Tom Durie. Later, a story circulated that Tom Durie had stumbled on the queen holding a secret Mass at the palace.
Anne of Denmark completed a new building at the palace in 1600, and known as the "Queen's House", or "Queen Anna of Denmark's House" or the "Queen's Jointure House". It was demolished in 1797. The new work was cruciform in plan. It was a tall building with a driveway known as a "pend" running through its basement level, replacing an earlier gateway. This feature can be compared with the Queen's House at Greenwich which was also built over a roadway. A Latin inscription (now lost) recorded that the "gateway and temple-like superstructure" was reconstructed for Anne. Near the west front of the abbey there were houses for the senior officers of her estates. There was a tennis court in the old abbey cloister.