Pause at Marriage Stone

N1: This is my favourite spot because my grandparents tell me that when they and their friends were young, it was a tradition to come here on their wedding day and rub what was known as the marriage stone.

N1: After a shaky start, you could say that Margaret and Malcolm must have got along pretty well in the end because they went on to have eight children, six boys and two girls.  Ever since, newlyweds would come here to rub the stone in the hope it would bring them good luck, a good marriage and children. A bit later I’ll tell you about some very famous mothers throughout history who believed Margaret would help them during labour.  

N1: Anyway, it was said that the marriage was indeed very happy and that Malcolm was devoted to his new wife.  Obviously, there’s no way of proving this from so long ago but it’s a lovely local tale, don’t you think?

N2: Eight children? Wow, that’s a handful.  

N1: Margaret arranged for the best teachers in the land to come to Dunfermline for her family and some of those eight children went on to lead very interesting lives of their own too.  The royal couple produced quite a dynasty with 3 sons becoming Kings of Scotland and 1 daughter, a Queen of England. In fact, her youngest son, King David the First, brought all sorts of developments to Scotland that we can read about in the museum or online later.  One of the things he was responsible for was building this Abbey in front of us, though it didn’t look then quite as it does now.  

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