Scotland’s Patroness is St Margaret, previously Queen Margaret, married to Malcolm III in 1070. There is a whole audio walk around the town to discover locations relevant to her life. The extract below shares local folklore on a cave believed to be where she spent time in devotion to God.
N1: You might not be too inspired when you first see this next one but give me a chance.
N2: … A car park. You’ve brought me to a car park. Medieval is it?
N1: You remember the city of Leicester’s story about Richard III being found under a carpark? Well, Dunfermline has its very own car park story. Believe it or not, this is actually the site of St Margaret’s Cave. Go on, try and find the cave.
N2: I can’t see a cave anywhere. Oh, wait. What’s that little building in the corner on the far left?
N1: You’ve got it. That building houses the entrance to what was a special little place where Margaret came regularly to pray. If you go in there you can still see part of the cave itself, though you’ll need to be feeling fit. There are 87 steps down AND up. Hope you’re not claustrophobic.
N1: The often-told story goes here that Malcolm got suspicious when Margaret regularly disappeared off to some secret location and he imagined she was up to all sorts of things. No-one knows if this is true but one day he was supposed to have followed her, expecting to find her in the arms of some medieval hunk. But of course, Margaret being Margaret, he found her praying and fasting. Feeling guilty – as he should – he then wanted to make amends and, knowing she liked fine and beautiful things, started decorating her precious religious books with gold, silver and jewels. Is that not the most romantic thing you’ve ever heard? Though if it were me, I’d probably go for earrings.
N2: That’s a rather romantic story, isn’t it? Now, Margaret might have been one for fasting but I’m not. It must be time for coffee.
To visit the cave see venue website St Margaret’s Cave for more details.
For more on St Margaret the full audio tour is at [link to Tour site]