Public Park Bandstand

The bandstand in Dunfermline Public Park, off St Margaret’s Drive, is a piece of Victorian park furniture with a Carnegie family name attached. Historic Environment Scotland lists an octagonal, ogee-roofed cast-iron bandstand made in 1888 by Walter MacFarlane and Co of the Saracen Foundry, Glasgow, with eight Ionic columns on a three-tier stone base and a copper roof. It was gifted by Louise Carnegie.

MacFarlane’s foundry exported bandstands across the country; this is a complete Category B example, and it sits in the Public Park rather than in Pittencrieff, the Glen her husband later gave the town. The two parks are easy to confuse: this is the older public park east of the centre, on St Margaret’s Drive.

There are no separate opening hours; it stands in the park, to be seen rather than booked. Don’t climb it. If you’re on this side of town, it’s a short stop with a clear story: a foundry-made gift from Louise Carnegie, a few years before the much larger gift of Pittencrieff Park.