Dunfermline Abbey is just a few steps away from Dunfermline Palace and by the time we started to go around it was quite dark inside, not so much because of the time but it was the grey dreich weather which was the culprit. The abbey is very old, both the abbey and the palace were probably built around about the same time.

We had the place entirely to ourselves and I must say that I enjoyed looking around it, I don’t always like these massive old religious structures as they often have a quite menacing atmosphere to me, but this one isn’t used for religious services and I didn’t feel any ‘fear of God’ vibes about it!

I particularly like the chevron design pillars, they remind me of the ones at Durham Cathedral, another religious place with a good feeling about it, despite it still being used for worship.

I just love the colours in the stained glass windows, but I have no idea what they depict, I must take a closer look next time I go.

Below is a photo of Dunfermline Abbey Church which is still in use and is where Robert the Bruce and others are buried. It isn’t really very old (1821) and it has been built on to the old abbey, probably covering old foundations, but at the moment it is only open for church services so I’ll have to wait until the tourist season starts up again before I can go in and take some photos.

You can see more images of the abbey here.