Jim Clark in the 20th Century and Thomas Chalmers in the 19th are two of those who have gone out from the rural obscurity of Kilmany to wider fame. It is one of the historic parishes of North East Fife dating back to the beginning of the 13th Century, if not a little earlier. However, its name implies the existence of a Christian community here at least from the 8th Century. Though it has always been an agricultural area, in the Middle Ages it contained an important base for the Earls of Fife whose hereditary role was to crown the Scottish Kings. From 1450, for over four hundred years it had a close association with St Salvator's College in the University of St Andrews. Set in the quiet beauty of unspoilt countryside, its story still reflects the turbulence of Scotland's past. The author lives in the village.