Kingskettle, Freuchie and Ladybank

To the east of Falkland lie the villages of Kingskettle, Freuchie and Ladybank. They are tidy villages, decorously built, neatly placed, and enjoying a tranquillity much in keeping with the gentle landscape of the Howe of Fife. The name of Kettle derives from the Celtic name of battlefield, and is supposed to have been given to it as the result of some great battle there before the days of recorded history, but Kingskettle is today a place of modest peaceful streets. The lands of Kettle once belonged to the Earls of Fife, but were forfeited to the Crown and were in the King's gift. The royal prefix of "Kingis" is given to Kettle in a charter of 1541.

The high, pinnacled tower of its church, boldly placed at the entrance to the village, can be seen throughout the whole district. This church was built in 1832. Its predecessor, Kettle's third church, stood where today stands the village smithy, neighboured by the old graveyard. The vestry still stands, and is used as a mortuary. The first church was at Lathrisk, and remains of the vestry of this church-consecrated in 1243, are to be seen in the outer kitchen of Lathrisk House. The vestry of the second church-built at Chapel and suppressed in 1636-also remains; this time as a garden tool-house.

It is said that Freuchie served for a time as a kind of Coventry, for to this village disgraced courtiers were sent on dismissal from Falkland Palace. New Inn nearby was a famous posting-house in the days when stage-coaches passed through the Howe on the route from Dundee to Pettycur. Ladybank was in earlier times known as Ladybog, and the plain surrounding it was a vast marsh from which the monks of Lindores gathered their peats. A 13th-century laird, Roger de Quince, granted the monks the right of taking 200 loads of heather and peats yearly.

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