AN ‘OLD DUNFERMLINE’ calendar has been produced for 2023 featuring archive images of the city of Dunfermline over the past century, many of which have featured in Memory Lane over the years. The photographs highlight many of the changes that have taken place in the ancient capital of Scotland.

Our first image this week is one that appears in the ‘Old Dunfermline’ calendar and is a wonderful view looking up towards Dunfermline Abbey and Palace. A bus can be seen on the level above where the two cars are in the photograph and that was what was known as ‘The Lower Bus Station’ at a time when there were two bus stations in Dunfermline. The other one was situated on the site where Tesco’s store is now in Carnegie Drive. Unsurprisingly, that bus station was referred to as the ‘Upper Bus Station’ ... the Lower Bus Station served the coastal areas of Fife.

Fred Tomlin remembers it from his working days: “I caught my first bus ride from the lower bus stance when I was appointed to Rosyth Dockyard on the 22nd February 1970. That was the first day of an eight-and-a-half-year stay.”

Glyniss Bewley also recalls travelling up to the bus station: “I remember the bus station being here ... bus back to Rosyth Dockyard and the really tight turn on the New Row ...”

David Shepherd used it at a time when there were bus conductors in addition to drivers which made for easier manoeuvring: “I remember the bus conductors blowing their whistles and guiding the drivers to reverse.”

The next image was supplied by Press reader Eddie Busst. Taken in the 1960s, it is of a French Saviem coach heading up Monastery Street past the World War 1 Memorial. Although traffic was permitted to access the town through the Pends at that time, Eddie recalls that he was able to warn the driver just in time that his particular coach would not have been able to fit under the low stone archway he was about to try to drive through ... the area has since been pedestrianised.

The final image is a view looking west along East Port or East Port Street (the street has used both names in its long existence) towards the junction with the High Street and the New Row. The bus to Townhill can also be seen in the picture. Robert Kinnell points out a church that stood on the north side of East Port Street, the steps and railings of which can be seen just before the advertising sign for ‘John Ross & Son’. “Saint Margaret's Parish Church on the right. I got married there in 1966 – it was the best thing I ever did.”

The ‘Old Dunfermline’ calendar is on sale in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries (DCLG) as well as in the shop in Abbot House. It is also available online at olddunfermline.com/shop. More images like these can also be seen in the Local Studies Department of DCLG.

With thanks to Frank Connelly.