Dunfermline: Readers' memories of growing up in Abbeyview

The first photograph shows the flats in Inchkeith Drive. The open countryside in the distance is now all built up.

This image features in the ‘Old Dunfermline’ calendar that has been produced for 2024 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.

Siobhan Detwiler remembers growing up in Inchkeith Drive: “We lived at number 111 when I was four years old up until I was eight. This stretch of pavement you see in this picture was where I went rushing down on my dad's vintage skateboard, which I had borrowed without asking. I fell off and the vintage skateboard got badly damaged. Let's just say I was grounded until kingdom come...”

Susan Reid also recalls the street: “I  lived with my gran in the 1960s in the wee flat, number 81, on the ground floor just above the head of the wee boy on the trike.” 

A view of Islay Road. (Image: Contributed)

The next photograph is of Islay Road that was named after the Scottish island of Islay. Many of the streets on the estate were similarly named after Scottish islands, rivers and other landmarks.

Mary Case remembers the very early days of life in this street: “Many happy, and not so happy, memories of living and playing in Islay Road. We were the first family in the street in 1955 by a few hours. The people in the house on the right were second, having moved, as we did, from Elliot Street. We had been living in a wee prefab so we felt rich because we had a new three-bedroomed house and a big garden.”

Helen Burkinshaw also recalls living there: “I grew up in Islay Road too. We lived at number 5. My Mum and Dad moved in when it was built. Dad died in 1964 and Mum lived there until she died in 2012. Between the houses and the flats in that square bit there used to be a tree that I liked to climb. Unfortunately I climbed it the first day I wore a kilt Mum made me and ripped it. I had to carry on wearing the kilt with a machine-sewn repair until I grew out of it. Many happy memories of our childhood there. It was a different world, we maybe didn’t have much money but we were happy.”

The junction of Aberdour Road and Blacklaw Road. (Image: Contributed)

The final photograph is the junction of Aberdour Road and Blacklaw Road, again with open farmland in the distance which is now housing.

The ‘Old Dunfermline’ calendar is on sale in the shops in Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries and 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 Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, as well as at facebook.com/olddunfermline.

With thanks to Frank Connelly.