Archaeology Notes

Event ID 711237

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/711237

NT08NE 7 0891 8731

(NT 0891 8731) West Port (NR) (Site of)

OS 1:500 map, (1896)

West Port, Dunfermline: This, the first mentioned port of the burgh, is noticed in a charter of Robert, Abbot of Dunfermline, dated 1326. It was later called the West Port, to distinguish it from the Burgh Ports afterwards built.

It stood in the middle of St Catherine's Wynd and consisted of an archway 11' in height and 7' in breadth. Above the archway there was an apartment known as "the Cross Chamber", which was entered by a door in its wall facing the kirkyard. The height of the building from the street, according to an old note, was 29'.

The port was removed in 1780.

E Henderson 1897; J M Webster 1953.

No further information.

Visited by OS (D W R) 18 February 1974.