Dunfermline - the old capital of Scotland

Dunfermline (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phàrlain) is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland. It sits on high ground 3 miles from the shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh. The town is an historic capital of Scotland.

King Robert the Bruce is buried within Dunfermline Abbey in the town centre and the ruins of Dunfermline's Royal Palace lie adjacent to the abbey. The centre of Dunfermline is intersected from north to south by Pittencrief Park, a picturesque cleugh known locally as the Glen at the bottom of which flows the Lyne Burn from which the name Dunfermline is derived.

Recent population estimates show the population of Dunfermline in 2006 to be 45,462. The population of the wider Dunfermline Area including the adjacent towns and villages supports an estimated population of 75,570.

Dunfermline is effectively coalesced with the town of Rosyth, which is itself continuous with nearby Inverkeithing. Industries in the Dunfermline area include engineering, electronics, defence and textiles. Employment in the town has diversified into service sector employment amongst others.

Dunfermline Athletic (or the Pars) are currently in the Scottish League's First Division, but have have seen better success than this during the last 40 or so years.

The 60's are known as the club's "Golden Decade", winning the Scottish Cup twice and appearing often in European Cup Winner Cup and UEFA Cup ties. During this time their managers included Jock Stein and Alex Ferguson joined as a player.

The highlight of the 70's was the club's promotions from the Second Division with 95 goals - the highest goal scorers in Britain!

In 1984 the Club finished the season in 9th place in Second Division - it's worst placing in the club's history. However, in 1987 it reached the Premier Division for the first time. In 1989, Gary Riddell, died while running in the Dunfermline Half Marathon.

Another tragedy beset the Club when, in 1995,the club's then-captain and all-time great player Norrie McCathie died suddenly at the age of 34. The team went on to remain in the Scottish Premier League until 1999, when they were briefly relegated to the Scottish First Division for one season. East End Park was redeveloped and the home fans' end of the ground was renamed the Norrie McCathie stand.

From 2000 - 2007 Dunfermline's seven year stay in the Scottish Premier League proved to be patchy, but the club did endure some fine seasons. The 2002-2003 season saw them finish 5th, their highest position yet with Stephen Crawford scoring a whopping 19 goals. The following season, Dunfermline did even better finishing 4th place as well as reaching the final of the Scottish Cup which also in addition saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Dunfermline were relegated from the Scottish Premier League on the May 12, 2007 after losing by two goals to one against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

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