Editing Dunbar (section)

==History==
[[File:Dunbar Harbour and Castle ruins.jpg|thumb|Castle at Dunbar Harbour]]
[[File:Seal of Dunbar.png|thumb|right|Seal of Dunbar from Groome's Gazetteer{{sfn|Groome|1882}}]]
[[File:Seal of Dunbar from Samuel Lewis.png|thumb|right|Seal of Dunbar from Samuel Lewis{{sfn|Lewis|1851}}]]

===Etymology===
In its present form, the name ''Dunbar'' is derived from its [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic]] equivalent (modern [[Scottish Gaelic]]: ''{{lang|gd|Dùn Barra}}''), meaning "summit fort". That itself is probably a Gaelicisation of the [[Cumbric]] form ''{{lang|xcb|din-bar}}'', with the same meaning. This form seems to be attested as ''Dynbaer'' in the seventh-century ''[[Vita Sancti Wilfrithi]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox.html|title=Fox—The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland|website=www.heroicage.org|access-date=28 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox-appendix.html|title=Fox—P-Celtic Place-Names—Appendix|website=www.heroicage.org}}</ref>

=== Pre-history ===
Excavations in advance of a housing development by CFA Archaeology, in 2003, found the remains of a later [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]]/[[early Iron Age]] (800–540 BC) person, indicating that people were living in the area during that time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Vol 50 (2011): A Rural Medieval Settlement and Early Iron Age Funerary Remains at Hallhill, Dunbar, East Lothian {{!}} Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports|url=http://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/sair/issue/view/80|access-date=2021-08-22|website=journals.socantscot.org}}</ref>

To the north of the present High Street an area of open ground called Castle Park preserves almost exactly the hidden perimeter of an [[Iron Age]] [[promontory fort]].{{sfn|Historic Environment Scotland}} The early settlement was a principal centre of the people known to the Romans as [[Votadini]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://el4.org.uk/county/revisiting-the-past/the-archaeology-of-east-lothian/early-historic-settlements/|title=Early historic settlements: the example of Castle Park, Dunbar|date=16 April 2018 |publisher=The Fourth Statistical Account of East Lothian|access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref>

===Early history===
Dunbar was subsumed into Anglian [[Northumbria]] as that kingdom expanded in the 6th century and is believed to be synonymous with the Dynbaer of [[Eddius]] around 680, the first time that it appears in the written record.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/dunbar-through-the-years-these-27-pictures-show-how-much-the-east-lothian-seaside-town-has-changed-since-the-1960s-3437773|title=Dunbar through the years: These 27 pictures show how much the East Lothian seaside town has changed since the 1960s|newspaper=The Scotsman|date=29 October 2021|access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref>

The 2003 archaeological excavation also found a cemetery comprising 32 long-[[cist]] burials. Cemeteries of this type date from the early Christian period (AD 4th–8th centuries) and have been found in several areas around Dunbar, including to the east of Spott roundabout and at the Dunbar swimming pool indicated a settlement existed during this time.<ref name=":0" />

The influential Northumbrian monk and scholar [[St Cuthbert]], born around 630, was probably from around Dunbar: while still a boy, and employed as a shepherd, one night he had a vision of the soul of [[Aidan of Lindisfarne|Saint Aidan]] being carried to heaven by angels and thereupon went to the monastery of [[Old Melrose]] and became a monk.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/c/stcuthbert.html|title=St Cuthbert|publisher=Undiscovered Scotland| access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref>

It was then a king's [[vill]] and prison to Bishop [[Wilfrid]]. As a royal holding of the kings of [[Northumbria]], the economy centred on the collecting of [[food render]]s and the administration of the northern (now Scottish) portion of that kingdom. It was the base of a senior royal official, a reeve (later [[sheriff]]).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1a6Qw1R2lxoC&pg=PA318|title=Castle Park, Dunbar: Two Thousand Years on a Fortified Headland, Part 4|page=318|first1=David R. |last1=Perry|first2= Mark A. S. |last2=Blackburn|publisher=Society of Antiquaries of Scotland|year=2000|isbn=978-0903903165}}</ref>

===Scottish conquest===
Danish and Norse attacks on southern Northumbria caused its power to falter and the northern portion became equally open to annexation by Scotland. Dunbar was burnt by [[Kenneth MacAlpin]] in the 9th century. Scottish control was consolidated in the next century and when [[Lothian]] was ceded to [[Malcolm II of Scotland|Malcolm II]] after the [[battle of Carham]] in 1018, Dunbar was finally an acknowledged part of Scotland.<ref>Mack, Logan, (1924) "The Border Line - Solway Firth to the North Sea", Oliver & Boyd., p. 6</ref>

Throughout these turbulent centuries Dunbar's status must have been preserved because it next features as part of a major land grant and settlement by [[Malcolm III of Scotland|Malcolm III]] in favour of the exiled earl [[Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria|Gospatric]] of Northumbria (to whom he may have been full cousin) during 1072. Malcolm needed to fill a power vacuum on his south-eastern flank; Gospatric required a base from which to plot the resumption of his Northumbrian holding. The grant included Dunbar and, it can be deduced, an extensive swath of [[East Lothian]] and [[Berwickshire]] or Merse (hence March). Gospatric founded the family of Dunbar. The head of the House of Dunbar filled the position of [[Earl of Dunbar|Earls of Dunbar and March]] until the 15th century.<ref>Miller, James, ''The History of Dunbar'', Dunbar, 1830, pp.&nbsp;84–89.</ref>

===Later history===
The town became successively a baronial burgh and royal burgh (1370).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.johngraycentre.org/east-lothians-royal-burghs/|title=East Lothian's Royal Burgh|publisher=John Grey Centre|access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref> Cultivated [[Warren (burrow)|rabbit warrens]] on the links to the east and west of the town supplied [[food and the Scottish royal household|food to the royal household]]. In 1589, storms and windblown sand destroyed the warren on the west links.<ref>''Exchequer Rolls'', XII (Edinburgh, 1892), pp. 56, 368.</ref>

Major battles were fought nearby in [[Battle of Dunbar (1296)|1296]] and [[Battle of Dunbar (1650)|1650]]. The latter was fought during the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] between a Scottish [[Covenanter]] army and English Parliamentarians led by [[Oliver Cromwell]]. The Scots were routed, leading to the overthrow of the monarchy and the occupation of Scotland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Reese|first=Peter|date=2006|title=Cromwell's Masterstroke: The Battle of Dunbar 1650|location=Barnsley|publisher=Pen & Sword Military|isbn=978-1-84415-179-0|pages=96–97}}</ref>

A permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of [[Lauderdale House, Dunbar|Castle Park Barracks]] in 1855.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dunbar.org.uk/dunbar-high-street-closes/|title=Historic closes and wynds|access-date=6 December 2014}}</ref>

The local band, Dunbar Royal British Legion Pipe Band, which was founded in 1976, has competed with success in national competitions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/17824891.royal-british-legion-pipe-band-record-greatest-achievement/|title=Royal British Legion pipe band record 'greatest achievement'|date=12 August 2019|newspaper=East Lothian Courier|access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref>

On 3 January 1987, a devastating fire destroyed much of the town's historic parish church: though the fire practically destroyed the monument and left only the outer walls remaining, the church has since been rebuilt with a modern interior.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/13556766.25-years-on-church-refurb-really-fires-the-imagination/|title=25 years on, church refurb really fires the imagination|date=12 January 2012|newspaper=East Lothian Courier|access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref>