Dunfermline (in Gaelic, Dùn Phàrlain) is a town in Fife, Scotland. It sits on high ground 3 miles from the shore of the Firth of Forth, northwest of Edinburgh. The town is the historic capital of Scotland and Robert the Bruce is buried within Dunfermline Abbey. The town is intersected from north to south by the picturesque Pittencrieff Park, from which the town derives its name and at the bottom of which flows Lyne Burn. Dunfermline has a population of 39,229.

Dunfermline is in close proximity to the site of the former naval base and dockyard of Rosyth. Major industries in the Dunfermline area include engineering, electronics, defence and textiles. These have more recently gone into a steady decline. Employment in the town has in recent years begun to diversify to service sector employment and major employers in Dunfermline now include HBOS (Halifax Bank of Scotland), BSkyB and FMC Technologies.

Dunfermline is a sub-regional shopping centre serving west Fife [5] [6]. The centre is popular and has some of the highest levels of footfall in Fife [7]. The main shopping thoroughfare is located along a traditional, pedestrianised High Street. At one end of the High Street is a modern shopping mall, the Kingsgate Centre. A major expansion of the mall is currently underway.

Thought to be one of the oldest schools in Scotland, with evidence for its founding in the early 1120s, Dunfermline High School and its alumni have played an important part in the town's history throughout the ages. It was King David I, the son of Malcolm Canmore and Queen Margaret, who originally put up the money for the school.