
Dunfermline Scots: Dunfaurlin, Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phà rlain) is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground 3 miles (4.8 km) from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. The town's name comes from the Gaelic words "dun" (meaning "fortified hill"), "fearam" (crooked) and "linn" (stream). The area around Dunfermline became home to the first settlers in the Neolithic period, but did not gain recognition, until the Bronze Age as a place of importance. The town was first recorded in the 11th century, with the marriage of Malcolm III, King of Scotland and Saint Margaret at the church in Dunfermline. As his Queen consort, Margaret established a new church dedicated to the Holy Trinity which evolved into an Abbey under their son, David I in 1128. The graveyard of this abbey would become the burial place for many of Scotland's kings and queens. There have been various interpretations of the name, "Dunfermline".[5] The first element, "dun" translated from Gaelic, has been accepted as a (fortified) hill, which it is assumed to be referring to the rocky outcrop as the site of Malcolm Canmore's tower in Pittencrieff Glen (now Pittencrieff Park).[6] The rest of the name is problematic.[6] The second element, "the ferm" may have been an alternative name for the tower burn according to a medieval record published in 1455 and that together with the <b>...</b>
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