Dunnottar Castle

Dunnottar Castle

A fortress on the edge of the sea

Dunnottar Castle is one of the most dramatic sights in all of Britain. Its grey ruins crown a flat-topped rock that juts out into the North Sea, joined to the mainland only by a narrow neck of land. On three sides the cliffs fall straight down to the waves, some fifty metres below. To reach the castle a visitor must climb down a steep path and up again — which is exactly why, for hundreds of years, this was almost impossible to capture. It stands on the north-east coast of Scotland, just south of the town of Stonehaven.

A medieval stronghold

For much of the Middle Ages Dunnottar was the stronghold of the Keiths, the Earls Marischal, one of the most powerful noble families in Scotland. By tradition the Scottish hero William Wallace stormed the rock and burned an English garrison here during the Wars of Independence in 1297, though the details are uncertain. Over the following centuries the castle grew into a small fortified town on the cliff, with a tower house, a gatehouse, storehouses, a chapel and grand lodgings where kings and queens were entertained. Mary, Queen of Scots is known to have visited in the 1560s.

Saving the crown jewels

Dunnottar's most famous moment came in the 1650s. England was then ruled by Oliver Cromwell, whose armies had defeated the king and were sweeping through Scotland. The Honours of Scotland — the golden crown, the sceptre and the sword of state, among the oldest royal regalia in Europe — were in danger of being captured and destroyed. To keep them safe, they were carried to Dunnottar, perched on its unconquerable rock.

Cromwell's soldiers besieged the castle for around eight months. When at last it was about to fall, the precious Honours were secretly smuggled out — according to the famous story, lowered down the cliffs to a servant woman who hid them in baskets, or carried away by the wife of the minister of nearby Kinneff. They were buried beneath the floor of Kinneff Church and kept hidden for years, until the monarchy was restored. Thanks to Dunnottar, Scotland's crown jewels survive to this day.

The Whigs' Vault

The castle also holds a darker memory. In 1685, during a time of bitter religious conflict, 167 Covenanters — Presbyterian men and women who refused to accept the king's authority over the church — were imprisoned together in a single damp, gloomy cellar that became known as the "Whigs' Vault." Many suffered terribly in the cramped, airless space; some died, and a few died trying to escape down the cliffs. It is a grim reminder that a beautiful castle can also be a place of great cruelty.

Ruin, and a second life on screen

After the Earls Marischal lost their lands for supporting the Jacobite rising of 1715, Dunnottar was stripped and left to fall into ruin. In the twentieth century it was repaired and opened to visitors, and it found a new kind of fame. Its towering cliffs appeared in the 1990 film of Shakespeare's Hamlet, and the castle is often said to have helped inspire the clifftop fortress in the animated film Brave.

Visiting today

Today the walk out to Dunnottar is part of the adventure: down the path, across the narrow neck of rock, and up through the gatehouse into a windswept world of roofless walls, sea birds and crashing waves. Standing on the cliff edge, with the North Sea stretching to the horizon, it is easy to understand why this lonely rock guarded kings, hid a kingdom's treasure, and has thrilled visitors for centuries.