Charlestown was established in 1756 by Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin. The planned village is laid out in the shape of a letters C and E, for Charles Elgin. It was established as a harbour town for the shipment of coal mined on Lord Elgin's Fife estates, and for the production of lime. Shipbuilding was carried on at Charlestown in the 19th century, as well as ship-breaking. Some of the German Im
perial Fleet were brought here from Scapa Flow after World War I to be broken up. The kilns were built by Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin, in the late 18th century. They were the largest group of lime kilns in Scotland, producing a third of all lime production, and were particularly important to agriculture for soil improvement but also for building work to produce mortar, plaster and other lime based products. Unlike the neighbouring village of Charlestown, Limekilns is an old settlement dating back to the 14th century. In its early days Limekilns was mainly a fishing village, with the large natural harbour, sheltered by the rocky ridge known as The Ghauts, providing docking facilities for small to medium transport and cargo ships. From here ships traded with the ports in the Baltic Sea and France until the seventeenth century when the Union of the Crowns saw the royal interests move south to London. In the early 14th century there was a port for the town of Dunfermline, called Galletts, at the site of the current settlement of Limekilns, this served as the principal port for the town which lies a few miles inland
Today the villages welcome many visitors for sightseeing of Landmarks, walks along the Fife coastal Path and offers an array of Hotels, restaurants, bars and shops