Memory Lane: Looking back at Abbeyview and Duloch areas

There will be a ‘Dunfermline Then and Now’ show in Duloch Library on Thursday, December 7, at 6.30pm. Presented by local actor and presenter Tomm Campbell, the slide show will feature archive images and photographs of Dunfermline over the past 100 years and also show what the places look like today.

Our first photograph that will be in the show is a view looking south down Linburn Road towards its junction with Woodmill Road taken around 1975 with the following photograph showing what the same view looks like today. It shows the ‘Trondheim' pub which is where 'Luca's Kitchen' restaurant is today.

Luca's Kitchen now occupies the site of the former Trondheim bar. (Image: Contributed)

At that time the area on the left was open countryside and woods which was later filled with housing, making up the large Duloch housing development of today.

Typical of the memories of children living in Abbey View of this area is this from Brian Campbell: "That tree on the left was great for climbing up and jumping onto bales of hay. Before the Trondheim pub was built, that area was for the 5th of November bonfire."

Vicky Kendrick no longer stays in Dunfermline but has similar memories of the area: "I left Dunfermline years ago. This is exactly how I remember this area. I used to live opposite Trondheim Parkway. The farmland mentioned had a long lane leading to Calais Woods. Spent many hours as a child playing up there. A taste of countryside living alongside the dreary, drab urban housing schemes where we all lived."

The flats in the distance on Trondheim Parkway have all since been demolished. Although very much sought after when they were originally constructed, the flats later gained a less favourable reputation, as mentioned in this extract from the Dunfermline Press in January 1998: "Trondheim Parkway has been earmarked for demolition in a radical attempt to tackle Abbeyview's housing problems. A report considered by agencies involved in the regeneration of the area suggests 331 flats should be knocked down, including all 160 in Trondheim Parkway, dubbed the 'Street of Shame' following special investigation by the Press last October. Also included are flats in Inchkeith Drive, Drum Road and Dunn Crescent."

Linburn Road, looking north, in 1964. (Image: Contributed)

Our final photograph is also of Linburn Road, this time looking north around 1964 with some of the houses in Calais View in Abbeyview visible on the hill on the left which are still there today. Both names of Duloch and Calais are derived from the Gaelic with Duloch being 'dubh loch' or 'black loch', and Calais (pronounced Kay-liss) meaning 'place of woodland'. 

Tickets for the ‘Dunfermline Then and Now’ show on Thursday, December 7, in Duloch Library at 6.30pm, are on sale priced £5 in person from the Library on 01383 602208, online at Onfife.com and also from the Carnegie Hall box office on 01383 602302.

More images like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries as well as at facebook.com/olddunfermline.

With thanks to Frank Connelly