Sir Tom Hunter, well known Scottish businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, will be delivering the second in a series of Carnegie Lectures in the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum on Thursday November 3.

In his business life Sir Tom has adopted the sentiment of his acknowledged hero, Andrew Carnegie, that "a man who dies rich, dies disgraced".

One of the many gifts that Carnegie donated in his lifetime was Pittencrieff Park to the people of Dunfermline and our first image in this week’s trip down West Fife’s Memory Lane shows the very steep walls of Dunfermline Palace, as seen from the walkway underneath it in Pittencrieff Park.

Once open to the public, as generations of people brought up in Dunfermline will remember, the walkway beneath these towering walls has been closed off for a number of years now due to it being deemed unsafe and in danger of collapse.

The palace was the birthplace in 1600 of King Charles I who reigned from March 1625 until his execution in London in 1649.

The steep palace walls didn’t prevent Jim Barr from climbing on them as a child growing up in Dunfermline: “I used to walk along the top in the 70s for a dare – I wouldn't even think about it now."

Mick Reilly also remembers playing in what were often referred to as simply ‘the ruins’: “It was an adventure playground for a young boy back in the 50s.

"I lived in the Maygate for a year or so around 1954/55 and non-schooldays were spent around the ruins and the Glen, right on our doorstep!”

Alan Stewart also frequented the area: “We used to slide down the slope from a hole in the stone floor of the palace.

"Only when I was older did I realise that the hole in the floor was in fact the remains of a royal privy, and the grassy slope we slid down towards the Glen burn was formerly an open sewer (no wonder the grass was so green)!

"I once found a silver fourpence dated 1625 from the reign of the last monarch to be born in the palace.

"It wasn’t in very good condition, but was still just barely legible. It must’ve fallen out of the pocket of some royal courtier when they were using the privy!”

Our next photograph shows the stable block that was situated in Pittencrieff Park before it burned down and a replacement was constructed in the area that now houses the peacocks, behind where the aviary used to be.

This view is looking east towards Pittencrieff House in the distance, and the old telephone kiosk on the right is still there today.

The lily pond is now situated where the stable block once was.

The next old postcard is a view of the ‘Ambition’ statue that once stood on top of a fountain outside Pittencrieff House.

Created by Richard Goulden, who was the art advisor for the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust in the early 20th century, its full title was 'Let Noble Ambition be the Thirst of Youth'.

More photographs like these can be seen in Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries as well as at facebook.com/olddunfermline