Formerly known by its full Gaelic name, Kinaskit, the village of Kinnesswood in southern Perth and Kinross lies on the west-facing lower slopes of the Bishop Hill overlooking Loch Leven. Now largely a commuter settlement, it was formerly a weaving village and before that an agricultural township. It is linked to Scotlandwell and Portmoak Moss by a pathway known as the Tetley Trail and on its southern edge is the 9-hole golf course of the Bishopshire Golf Club (1903). Many of its older buildings date from the 18th and 19th centuries, amongst these being the birthplace of the 'Gentle Poet of Lochleven', Michael Bruce (1746-67), now maintained as a village museum. Also born in the village was the renowned meteorologist Alexander Buchan (1829 - 1907).
The settlement gives its name to the Kinnesswood Formation, a geological unit exposed across Central Scotland that comprises calcareous sandstones of Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous age (347 to 383 million years ago), part of what was once known as the Old Red Sandstone.