Publication Account
Date 1996
Event ID 1016432
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016432
The sheer cliffs of conglomerate that form the natural defences of this spectacular site define an area so large (3.5 ha) that successive occupiers have been able to develop a castle layout that is unique. The earliest use of the site is obscure; it may have been the Dun Father of the early annals.
Today, the visitor climbs to the only entrance, the door through the 9m high curtain, under the gaunt shadow of the five-storey height of the 16thcentury Benholm's Lodging. Once through the curtain and portcullis, the approach is still upwards, past the 16th-century guardroom and magazine, along a steeply enclosed roadway and through two (8m long) vaulted pends until one finally emerges on the grass platform of the interior. Around is almost a small town of buildings of varying dates.
The earliest extant structure is round to the right, in the most easily defended south-western corner of the plateau, the late 14th-century L-plan keep. This imposing tower, 15m high, was built by Sir William Keith, Great Marischal of Scotland, and extended in the 16th century.
The range of roofless buildings runnning east from the keep comprises storehouse, smithy and stables of the 16th century. North of the stables is the Priest's House or Waterton's Lodging, a 16th century free-standing house of two storeys.
Further east, occupying the north-eastern quarter of the plateau, is the great Quadrangle or 'Palace', measuring 45.8m by 40.2m. This group of buildings comprises a complete mansion house, spread out round a courtyard in a most un-Scottish plan. That it is almost unique is the result of its cliff-girt locati on which permitted a spaciousness of layout unknown elsewhere. The west range is the earliest part, having been built in the last quarter of the 16th century, and consists of seven chambers or 'lodgings' for guests or retainers. Each lodging has its own front door and fireplace on the ground floor; a long gallery runs the whole length of the first floor of this range. The great hall is in the north range, built in the first half of the 17th century, with the lord's private chambers adjacent, in the wing projecting from the north-east corner over the Whigs' Vault of 1645. The east range has private bedrooms over brewery and bakehouse, while the south side of the quadrangle is completed by the 16th-century chapel (which has earlier fragments incorporated in the fabric).
The history of Dunnottar is naturally one of siege and drama. Two events stand out, both from the 17th century. First the saving of the Honours of Scotland from Cromwell's grasp in 1652, by lowering them over the cliff and hiding them in Kinneff Kirk (no. 39). Second the imprisonment and ill usage of 122 men and 45 women Covenanters in 1685 in the Whigs' Vault-'the event whose dark shadow is for evermore flung athwart the Castled Rock'.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Aberdeen and North-East Scotland’, (1996).
