Falkland

Falkland, a royal burgh (since 1458) of Fife, at the north-eastern base of the steep East Lomond Hill (1471 feet), 22 miles north of Edinburgh. Nothing remains of the old castle of the Earls of Fife, in which David, Duke of Rothesay, was starved to death by the Regent Albany (1402); but there are extensive and stately remains of the later royal palace (circa 1450-1542), with singularly fine Renaissance details. It was the death-place of James V., and has memories of almost all the other Stuart sovereigns. With the estate and a modern mansion (1844), it was purchased in 1888 by the Marquis of Bute, who has thoroughly restored it. Pop. 1045. See Major W. Wood's Historical Description of Falkland (Kirkcaldy, 1888).