Kilrenny. General view of Main Street including Parish Kirk.

Description Kilrenny. General view of Main Street including Parish Kirk.

Date 1889

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number F 2015

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 740622

Scope and Content Kilrenny, Fife Kilrenny, a tiny village built around its parish church, sits near the eastern tip of the Fife peninsula between the fishing ports of Anstruther and Crail. The Scottish photographer, Erskine Beveridge, photographed the village on a visit to Fife in 1889. The village has a very short main street, lined on the north side (right) with 18th-century cottages, roofed with the distinctive curved pantiles traditionally found in East Neuk villages. On the south side are crowstepped two-storeyed houses, some with an external stair (forestair) leading to the upper flat. The church tower dates from the 15th century, with a corbelled parapet and octagonal slated spire added in the 16th century. The main body of the church was built in 1807-8, when the spire was repaired and perhaps the weathercock put up. Life in the village centred around agriculture and fishing, with most of the cottages belonging to farm labourers and fishermen. In the late 19th century, Fife had some of the richest agricultural land in Scotland with wheat, described as 'almost as good as the best in Lothian', barley, oats, flax, turnips and potatoes being the main crops. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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