The parish extends around 7+3⁄4 miles (12 km) east to west and is 3+1⁄2 miles (6 km) deep at its greatest extent, or 11+1⁄4 sq mi (29 km2), and contains the villages of West Barns, Belhaven, and East Barns (abandoned) and several hamlets and farms.

[citation needed] Dunbar is the birthplace of the explorer, naturalist, and influential conservationist John Muir.

[8][9] Excavations in advance of a housing development by CFA Archaeology, in 2003, found the remains of a later Bronze Age/early Iron Age (800–540 BC) person, indicating that people were living in the area during that time.

[10] 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.

[12] 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.

As a royal holding of the kings of Northumbria, the economy centred on the collecting of food renders and the administration of the northern (now Scottish) portion of that kingdom.

[15] Danish and Norse attacks on southern Northumbria caused its power to falter and the northern portion became equally open to annexation by Scotland.

Scottish control was consolidated in the next century and when Lothian was ceded to Malcolm II after the battle of Carham in 1018, Dunbar was finally an acknowledged part of Scotland.

[16] 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 in favour of the exiled earl 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).

[18] Cultivated rabbit warrens on the links to the east and west of the town supplied food to the royal household.

The latter was fought during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms between a Scottish Covenanter army and English Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell.

[23] During 2003, archaeological excavations at Oxwell Mains (Lafarge Cement Works) near Dunbar revealed the site of a Mesolithic house believed to be from around the 9th millennium BC.

[24] The earliest feature was a large ditch which may have formed part of the defences around a promontory fort previously identified during earlier excavations near the coast at Castle Park.

A small number of the skeletons were in long cists, but the majority were simple shroud burials.

As with most of the British Isles, Dunbar has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with cool summers and mild winters.

[26] Due to its geographical location, Dunbar receives less rain and more hours of direct sunshine per year than most places in Scotland.

These provide an ideal viewpoint to see Dunbar's geological features including volcanic deposits and dykes seen from a high vantage point on the western clifftop promenade which passes the town's Public and Winterfield parks.

The High Street also features historic closes, two museums, and the "Backlands" garden[clarification needed] and is a short walk to the scenic harbour area with its summertime food outlets.

On the periphery of the town is a large garden centre with cafe, an Asda store accompanied by a drive-thru McDonald's built in late 2015,[30][31] a restaurant and hotel owned by Marston's named the Pine Marten.

Agriculture remains important but fishing has declined, although the harbour is still active mainly landing shellfish.