Kennoway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kennoway is a village in Fife, Scotland, near the larger population centres in the area of Leven and Methil. It is situated on the Fife hills about three miles inland from the Firth of Forth, north of Leven. This position gave it importance in the old days while travelling by coach, for the stage road ran through Kennoway from the ferry at Pettycur, through Ceres, and on to St. Andrews.

[edit] Place-name meaning

Kennoway derives from Gaelic ceann-achadh "field on a headland", ceann "headland" and achadh "field". Records of the name as Cenachedne in 1148 prove this. The suggestion that the final element "-way" derives from Old English weg "way, path" is wrong. Another possibility is that the name is derived from St. Kenneth (Cainnech). The earliest Culdee church was erected to his memory in Kennoway and is associated with many of the legends about St. Kenneth. He is believed to have spent many years spreading the Christian faith in Scotland during the 6th century. There have been many spellings of the name Kennoway, including Kennachin, Kennauchyn, Kennaukin, Kennochi and Kennochy.

[edit] Notable people

Allan Brown - former professional football player and manager
George Lillie Craik - writer and literary critic
Henry McLeish - former Scottish First Minister, who resigned after the Officegate scandal in 2001