St Margaret's Cave

For the summer of 2024, the cave will be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until 29 September for FREE pre-booked tours only. Visits must be booked 48 hours in advance either by phone (01383 602365), by email to dclg@onfife.com or by popping into Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries.

The exception will be on Sunday 23 June, when the annual St Margaret Pilgrimage takes place with a procession through Dunfermline, culminating in a mass at St Margaret's Church, East Port. The cave will be open to all from 12.15-3.30pm to allow visiting pilgrims and locals alike to visit the site where St Margaret would come to pray over 900 years ago

Who was St Margaret?

Margaret was a Saxon princess, granddaughter of King Edmund Ironside of England, born around 1047 in Hungary where her exiled father had settled.

She became Queen of Scotland when she married King Malcolm Canmore in Dunfermline around 1070. Three of her eight children became Kings of Scotland: Edgar, Alexander and David. In 1093, after a deeply religious and charitable life, Margaret died on 16th November - her saint's day is still celebrated on this date. She was made a Saint by Pope Innocent the Fourth in honour of her life and the miracles associated with her after her death.