A small scattered rural settlement within the parish of Kinneff and Catterline in SE Aberdeenshire, Kinneff lies 2 miles (3 km) northeast of Inverbervie with fine views looking out over the North Sea. A church dedicated to St. Anthony and consecrated in 1242 was superseded in 1738 by the present building which had a north aisle added to it in 1876. It is an episode in the 16th Century associated with the Old Church of Kinneff that gives the place its claim to fame. In September 1651 Cromwell's army laid siege to Dunnottar Castle further up the coast near Stonehaven and its garrison commander, George Ogilvy of Barras, realised that its capture was imminent. Earlier in the year the Scottish Parliament had ordered the Honours of Scotland, which comprised the Crown Sceptre and Sword of State, to be moved north to Dunnottar for safe keeping. Now under threat of capture by Cromwell's forces, the Royal Regalia were smuggled out of the castle by the wives of the garrison commander and parish minister of Kinneff. The "Honours Three" were then buried under a stone in front of the pulpit of Old Kinneff Church where they lay for the nine years of Cromwell's Commonwealth. At the Restoration in 1660 the Honours of Scotland were returned to Charles II and placed in Edinburgh Castle, but with the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament in 1707 they were locked in a chest in the Crown Room. There they remained forgotten until rediscovered in 1817 by Sir Walter Scott who had obtained royal permission for a search to be made. No longer used for regular Sunday worship, the Old Church of Kinneff has been maintained since the 1970s by the Kinneff Old Church Preservation Trust.
The small village of Roadside of Kinneff lies on the A92 road 1¼ miles (2 km) to the north northwest.
