Scotland, Fife,
Halbeath, High Valleyfield, Hill of Beath, Hillend,
Inverkeithing, Kelty, Kemback, Kennoway,
Kettlebridge, Kilbagie, Kilconquhar, Kilmany, Kilrenny,
Kincaple, Kincardine.

Map Of Fife

Halbeath

  A former colliery village in W Fife, situated between Dunfermline and the M90 motorway. Between 1783 and 1867 a wagonway for the transportation of coal operated between Halbeath and Inverkeithing. Today its development is linked to a retail park and its location at a motorway junction. The Calais Muir Wood lies to the south.

High Valleyfield

  A former mining village in W Fife, situated midway between Dunfermline and Kincardine. It sits on a hill overlooking Low Valleyfield on the coast of the Firth of Forth and was formerly part of the Valleyfield Estate purchased by the East Fife Coal Co. in 1907.

Hill of Beath

  A former mining village in Beath Parish, W Fife, situated between Cowdenbeath and Crossgates. It lies at the foot of Hill of Beath which rises to 786 ft. (242 m). Mining was developed here by the Fife Coal Company which acquired the local colliery in 1887.

Hillend

  A small village in W Fife straddling the A921 coastal road a mile to the east of Inverkeithing. There is an industrial park with industries producing electronics, electrical goods, plastic goods, optical components and building materials and to the north at Fordell Firs is the Scottish Scouts Association National Camping and Training Centre.

Inverkeithing

  A royal burgh in W Fife situated on a hill overlooking the Inner Bay of Inverkeithing Bay, an inlet of the Firth of Forth. Given royal charters by William the Lion in 1139 and Robert III in 1399, it is one of the oldest royal burghs in Scotland with historical associations that date back to Roman times when Agricola, Roman Governor of Britain is thought to have set up a camp here between 78 and 87 AD.
  Little remains of the town's medieval walls which were demolished in the 16th century, but notable historic landmarks include St Peter's Kirk which dates from the 5th century AD when a church was founded here by St Erat, a follower of St Ninian; the Scottish Baronial Fordell Lodging, home of the Hendersons who were Hereditary Provosts of Inverkeithing; the Friary (housing a local museum) and Friary Garden; the Town House (1770); the Mercat Cross (c.1400); Thomsoun's House (1617) with its caphoused stair tower; and the Civic Centre (1962).
  The building in the High Street now known as the Royal Hotel was the birthplace in 1735 of Samuel Greig, 'The Father of the Russian Navy', and a cottage in Heriot Street was the home of the parents of the Scottish Missionary Robert Moffat who was the first man to translate the Bible into an African language and whose daughter married David Livingstone.
Inverkeithing once held five annual fairs of which the only one to survive is the August Lammas Fair, an event that still features the traditional Hat and Ribbon Race. Now a centre of paper making, engineering and quarrying with a commuter railway station, Inverkeithing's Inner Bay was for many years a centre of shipbreaking.

Kelty

  A former mining town in W Fife, situated immediately east of the M90 motorway 2 miles (3 km) north of Cowdenbeath. The mining settlement was developed after 1872 when the Fife Coal Company was established.

Kemback

  A small village in E Fife, situated 2 miles east of Cupar to the south of the River Eden. Although the parish of Kemback has ancient associations with St Salvator's College in St Andrews, the village was largely created during the 19th century for those working in the flax mills that were powered by the adjacent Ceres Burn which flows down to the Eden through the deep wooded Dura Den gorge. It was thus also known as Kemback Mills.

Kennoway

  A former weaving village in S Fife a mile north of Windygates and two miles north-west of Leven. Situated on lands that once belonged to the Priory of St Andrews, its pre-Reformation church was dedicated to St Kenneth. The present church of the parish of Kennoway (1850) is home to the oldest Communion Cup (1671) in Scotland. To the south is the Pictish motte of Maiden Castle and to the west is the Kennoway Den with its sandstone cliffs.
  Now largely a dormitory settlement, the village prospered on the old route from Pettycur ferry on the Firth of Forth to Tayport on the Firth of Tay and had malting and brewing industries. Its importance waned with the development of the New Inn route to the west, but during the 19th century the building of the turnpike road and the expansion of weaving and shoe-making industries led to renewed growth.
  The village was designated a conservation area in 1977. Local industries, which include haulage facilities, are largely located in the Sandy Brae Industrial Estate at the south end of the village and stone is extracted from the nearby Langside Quarry. There are playing fields, a primary school, a community centre and a bowling green.

Kettlebridge

  A village in the Howe of Fife, situated to the south of the River Eden on the A92 midway between Glenrothes and Cupar. Formerly known as Holekettle, it developed after the building of the turnpike road c.1800 and the opening of the railway to Cupar in 1847. Its bridge was built in 1831. Kettlebridge and neighbouring Kingskettle were centres of the linen trade while coal, lime and stone were worked nearby.

Kilbagie

A small paper-making settlement to the north of Kincardine-on-Forth, situated on the border between Fife and Clackmannan.

Kilconquhar

  An attractive village in the East Neuk of Fife, situated on a knoll on the north shore of Kilconquhar Loch just north of Elie. Comprising the once separate neighbouring villages of Barnyards and Kilconquhar, the village is said to derive its name from the kil or cell of the hermit Connacher. The old name for the village is perpetuated in the 18th-century Kinneuchar Inn which more closely reflects its local pronunciation.
  The Gothic-style parish church dates from the 1820s, but an earlier church here was cared for during the Middle Ages by the nuns of North Berwick. It overlooks Kilconquhar Loch where witches are said to have been drowned and where today the game of curling occasionally takes place when the water is frozen. To the east of the village is Kilconquhar House (a former seat of the earls of Lindsay) and the remains of a castle built in 1547 by Sir John Bellenden, Lord Justice Clerk in the reign of James V.

Kilmany

  An old fermtoun village in NE Fife, situated by the A914 3 miles (5 km) north of Cupar. Dr Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), church leader and first moderator of the Free Church after the Disruption of 1843, was minister (1803-15) of Kilmany Parish church which dates from 1768. The church was originally a rectory of St Salvator's College in St Andrews and in its churchyard lies buried the Earl of Melville who supported William and Mary's claim to the throne in 1689. To the east stands the tower of Kinnear which lies on land occupied by the Kinnear family for over 700 years.

Kilrenny

  A village at the eastern end of Anstruther formerly known as Upper Kilrenny to distinguish it from Nether or Lower Kilrenny which is now known as Cellardyke. A church was founded here in AD 864 by the Celtic Culdees who dedicated the place to St Ethernan and in 1578 the village became a burgh with rights to hold a weekly fair. The present parish church, whose square tower was known to fishermen as 'St Irnie', dates from the 15th century and was extended in 1808 and renovated in 1933.
  In the churchyard are to be found the Scott of Balcomie Mausoleum, the Beaton Burial Enclosure and Lumsdaine's Burial Enclosure. Innergellie House, a former home of the Beatons and part of the marriage dowry of Robert III's wife Annabella Drummond, was rebuilt in a Baroque style in 1740. Nearby is the Skeith Stone which marks the spot where Danish invaders were once defeated by the men of Kilrenny and further up the coast are the Caiplie Caves which are associated with Iron Age settlement and with St Adrian and St Ethernan. A Conservation Area was established in Kilrenny in 1977.

Kincaple

  An attractive small dormitory village in E Fife, situated to the south of the Eden estuary and the A91, 2 miles (3.2 km) west of St Andrews. Originally an old farming settlement, its inhabitants eventually found work in the papermills, brickworks and maltbarns of nearby Guardbridge.

Kincardine

  A village at the western extremity of Fife, Kincardine (known fully as Kincardine-on-Forth) is situated on the River Forth in Tulliallan Parish. Dominated by the high rise flats of Ramsay and Kincairne Courts and the chimneys of Kincardine and Longannet power stations (opened in 1960 and 1966), Kincardine was founded as a burgh of barony on reclaimed marshland in 1663. It developed as a river port trading in salt and as a centre of shipbuilding and quarrying.
  Its attractive old town, which has many fine 17th and 18th-century houses and a mercat cross, is largely bypassed by the A985 which crosses the Forth over the Kincardine Bridge which was built between 1932 and 1936 to a design by Alexander Gibb & Partners.  There is an 18-hole golf course.

Previous Page                                                      Home Page                                                     Next Page

E-Mail Me Today