Dunnottar Castle

Dunnottar is a clifftop fortress on a detached-looking headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about 3 km south of Stonehaven. The rock rises some 50 metres straight out of the North Sea and is joined to the mainland only by a narrow neck of land, so the whole 1.4-hectare summit is a natural citadel. Walls, towers and roofless halls are spread across the top, and the approach along the cliff path shows them outlined against open sea long before you reach the gate.

The site may have been fortified in the early Middle Ages: the Annals of Ulster record sieges of Dún Foither in 681 and 694, and Scottish chronicles place the death of King Donald II here during a Viking attack in 900, although archaeologists have not proved that the early fort stood on this exact headland. The buildings seen now date mostly from the 14th to the 17th centuries. William Keith, Marischal of Scotland, raised the stone tower house in the late 1300s, and his descendants, the Earls Marischal, held the castle for more than three centuries. The 5th Earl, founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen, turned the fortress into a comfortable residence from the 1580s with a palace of ranges around a quadrangle facing the sea, including a long gallery, and a gatehouse bristling with gun ports.

Dunnottar's most famous episode came in 1651–52, when the Honours of Scotland — the crown, sceptre and sword — were hidden here from Cromwell's army. During the months-long blockade that followed they were smuggled out, reputedly by Christian Fletcher, the wife of a local minister, and buried beneath the floor of Kinneff church until the Restoration. In 1685 some 167 Covenanters were crammed into a cellar now called the Whigs' Vault. After the 10th Earl joined the Jacobite rising of 1715 the estate was forfeited and much of the castle stripped. Repairs began after 1919 under the Cowdray family, which still owns and runs the site, and the headland is a scheduled monument. Parts of the 1990 film Hamlet, starring Mel Gibson, were shot here. Access involves a steep path and many steps down and up the cliff.

Getting there

The castle is about 3 km south of Stonehaven and about 20 km from Nigg. A car park on the coastal road leads to a steep footpath of about 800 metres with modern staircases; walkers can also follow a 3 km cliff-top path from Stonehaven, whose station is on the Dundee–Aberdeen line. The nearest airport is Aberdeen International Airport (ABZ), about 29 km away.