Dunnottar Castle, Scotland

 

Dunnottar Castle (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Fhoithear, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the northeastern coast of Scotland, about 2 miles (3 kilometres) south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength.

The ruined fortress is often described as one of the most haunted castles in Scotland and there’s definitely an eerie, otherworldly sense about the place. Magnificently perched on a rocky headland jutting into the North Sea and surrounded by steep cliffs, Dunnottar was the home of the Earls Marischal, once one of the most powerful families in Scotland.

Many visitors report having seen a young woman in a green plaid (a traditional dress) in the Bakery looking for her lost children before vanishing in a doorway by the Brewery. Other sightings include a young deer hound and a tall man dressed in military regalia starring out to sea. Some have even heard sounds of a meeting taking place in Benholm’s Lodges, but no one is there…

Some facts about the castle:

• ‘Dùn Fhoithear’ is the Scottish-Gaelic for Dunnottar Castle, and means ‘fort on the shelving slope’.

• The date the first castle was built on the Dunnottar Castle site is uncertain, although it, or a fort, was possibly erected before the 7th century, as there is reference to a siege in the area in the late 600s.

• Dunnottar Castle was a significant administration location in the county, under the rule of King William the Lion who reigned from 1165 to 1214.