Kilrenny ( gd, Cill Reithnidh) is a village in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland. Part of the

East Neuk The East Neuk () or East Neuk of Fife is an area of the coast of Fife, Scotland. "Neuk" is the Scots word for nook or corner, and the East Neuk is generally accepted to comprise the fishing villages of the most northerly part of the Firth of ...

, it lies immediately to the north of (but inland and separate from)

Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther ...

on the south

coast. The first element of the name is from the

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

''cill'', meaning 'church'. The '-renny' element may perpetuate a worn down form of Etharnan or Itharnan, an early churchman who 'died among the Picts' in 669 according to the ''

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, ...

''." That Kilrenny is of early Christian origin is suggested both by the Kil- element of the place-name, and by the Skeith Stone, a carved stone with marigold motif (''circa'' 700?) which stands to the west of the village, possibly marking an ancient area of sanctity. The village was formerly Upper Kilrenny, until nearby Lower Kilrenny changed its name to

Cellardyke Cellardyke is a village in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The village is to the immediate east of Anstruther (the two effectively being conjoined) and is to the south of Kilrenny. History Cellardyke was formerly known as Nether Kilrenny ( S ...

in the 16th century. The oldest part of the present church is the 15th century tower, with the body of the building rebuilt in 1807–08 (re-using the original stones as building rubble). The village is a conservation area has many well-preserved houses in the local vernacular style, with

crow-stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a ...

datestone A datestone is typically an embedded stone with the date of engraving and other information carved into it. They are not considered a very reliable source for dating a house, as instances of old houses being destroyed and rebuilt (with the old da ...

s, forestairs, pan-tiled roofs etc.

References

Villages in Fife {{Fife-geo-stub

See also

References