Description
Dunnottar Castle - Scotland
Dunnottar Castle is located off the Burn of Halymyres in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Due to Its position, situated atop the rock of Dunnottar, perched along the North Sea, the castle has long been noted for its strategic position. Long before the present castle existed the promontory was home to a church, a fort, and an earlier castle. During the wars between Scotland and England William Wallace besieged the old castle when it was captured by Edward I, eventually burning it down. Sir William de Keith built the earliest parts of the current castle in the late 14th century. Over the years Dunnottar saw visits from King James IV in 1503 and King James VI in 1580. Mary Queen of Scots spent time here twice, in 1562 and again in 1564. In 1651 George Ogilvy of Barras, Governor of the Castle, was besieged by troops of Oliver Cromwell. He and his garrison of 69 men held out for eight months against the English troops. The prize to be won were the Honors of Scotland, which lay hidden in the castle. By the time of Ogilvy’s surrender in May 0f 1652 the Honors had been secretly smuggled away from the castle. The angered troops set about demolishing the castle. By the early 1700s the castle had been sold to the York Building Company, which removed everything of value. It would remain an empty shell until restoration began in 1925.
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