History
The village takes its name from St Monance who was killed by invading Danes in about 875. St Adrian was killed on the Isle of May in the same raid and all told 6,000 Fife Christians are said to have died.
Like other small 'East Neuk' towns, St Monans is rich in vernacular fisher and merchant houses of the 17th to early 19th centuries, with characteristic old Scots features, e.g. forestairs, crow-stepped gables, datestones, pantiled roofs etc. The tradition of shipbuilding has now ceased. For over 200 years the boat builder J W Miller & Sons Ltd produced fifie fishing boats, yachts and motor launches in the village.
The author Christopher Rush grew up in the village. His autobiography "Hellfire and Herrings" describes the community as seen by a small boy in the 1940s, 1950s and earlier, and as recounted by his grandfather and other relatives.
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