Fife Ness is a headland

Headlands and bays

Headlands and bays are two related features of the coastal environment.- Geology and geography :Headlands and bays are often found on the same coastline. A bay is surrounded by land on three sides, whereas a headland is surrounded by water on three sides. Headlands are characterized by high,...

 (ness is an archaic Norse word meaning "nose"), forming the most eastern point in Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

. It is situated in the area of Fife known as the East Neuk

East Neuk

The East Neuk or East Neuk of Fife is an area of the coast of Fife, Scotland, which is geographically ill-defined but nonetheless stirs local passions....

, and forms the muzzle of the dog-like outline of the latter when viewed on a map.

Fife Ness is home to a Coastguard

Her Majesty's Coastguard

Her Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...

 station and an important Northern Lighthouse Board

Northern Lighthouse Board

The Northern Lighthouse Board is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man. It is a non-departmental public body responsible for marine navigation aids around coastal areas.-History:...

 lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

, warning shipping of the headland and the North Carr

North Carr

The North Carr Reef is a sandstone reef northeast of Edinburgh, on the headland between the Firth of Forth and St Andrews Bay. There have been many ships wrecked on the reef, which lies on the busy shipping lanes into the Forth ports and the River Tay.A buoy was first placed on the reef in 1809...

 shoals. The lighthouse was built to replace the last in a series of lightvessel

Lightvessel

A lightvessel, or lightship, is a ship which acts as a lighthouse. They are used in waters that are too deep or otherwise unsuitable for lighthouse construction...

s that guarded the treacherous rocks, as it had proved impossible to build a permanent lighthouse on the rocks themselves.

Fife Ness is also surrounded by the links terrain of Crail Golfing Society

Crail Golfing Society

The Crail Golfing Society is the seventh oldest golf club in the world, instituted in February 1786 in the Golf Hotel, Crail. Their oldest course, Balcomie, was formally laid out by Old Tom Morris in 1894, but competitions were played there since the 1850s....

.