Dunnottar Castle
A ruined medieval stronghold balanced on a 50-metre sea cliff south of Stonehaven, Dunnottar once concealed Scotland’s Crown Jewels from Cromwell’s army and stood in for Elsinore in Franco Zeffirelli’s 1990 Hamlet.
At a glance
Dunnottar Castle occupies a dramatic promontory of dark whinstone jutting into the North Sea three kilometres south of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire. The only land approach is a steep path through a rock-cut passage — effectively a single choke point that made the fortress almost impregnable. Its ruins cover roughly 1.4 hectares and include a 14th-century tower house, a palatial range added by the Keith Earls Marischal, a chapel, and a barrel-vaulted underground prison known as the Whig’s Vault. The constant spray of the sea on three sides gives the site a raw, elemental quality that no photograph fully captures.
Key facts
- Period: c. 5th century AD (early fortification) to 17th century (abandonment after 1715 Jacobite Rising)
- Status: Scheduled Ancient Monument; managed by Historic Environment Scotland
- Film appearances: Hamlet (1990, dir. Franco Zeffirelli — exterior used as Elsinore; Mel Gibson’s scenes filmed on site); Brave (2012, Pixar — visual reference for fictional DunBroch Castle); Village of the Damned (1995)
- Scale: ~1.4 hectare promontory; cliff face ~50 metres above sea level
- Access: Paid entry; steep descent and ascent on foot (~10 min walk from car park); no disabled access to main ruins
History
The headland has been fortified since at least the early medieval period, with a Pictish settlement attested by the 5th century. The first identifiable castle structure dates to the late 12th century. William Wallace brought the site its earliest documented moment of drama in 1297, when he captured the English garrison that had taken shelter inside — reputedly sealing them in and burning the building over their heads. The castle subsequently passed to the Keith family, hereditary Earls Marischal of Scotland, who expanded it into a palatial complex from the 14th to the 17th century.
The most celebrated episode in Dunnottar’s history unfolded during the Cromwellian occupation of Scotland in 1651–52. The Honours of Scotland — the Crown, Sceptre, and Sword of State, the oldest surviving royal regalia in Britain — were brought here for safekeeping. When Cromwell’s army besieged the castle, the Honours were secretly lowered over the seaward walls by rope, collected by the wife of a local minister, and hidden under the floorboards of nearby Kinneff Church, where they remained for eight years until the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.
Mary Queen of Scots visited Dunnottar in 1562. The castle saw its last military garrisoning during the 1715 Jacobite Rising, after which it was forfeited and fell gradually into the ruin visible today. The Viscounts Cowdray purchased and partially stabilised the structure in the 20th century.
What you see
The entrance passage — cut directly through the living rock — delivers visitors into a fortified courtyard from which the keep’s curtain walls rise steeply on three sides. The L-shaped tower house, begun around 1392, retains its full height on the landward face, with corbelled corner turrets and arrow slits still legible. The 16th-century Palace Range to the west shows the influence of French Renaissance architecture that the Keith family imported via diplomatic contacts: large mullioned windows, carved heraldic panels, and a long gallery that would have rivalled contemporary Edinburgh interiors. When Franco Zeffirelli’s crew arrived in 1989 to film Hamlet, they dressed the roofless great hall and the cliff-top curtain walk as Elsinore’s battlements. Mel Gibson’s confrontation with the ghost was staged on the seaward parapet, with the actual North Sea — grey, indifferent, hundreds of feet below — substituting for the Baltic.
The Whig’s Vault, a low tunnel carved beneath the eastern wall, was used in 1685 to imprison 167 Covenanters in conditions that killed at least 25 of them from suffocation and disease. The low ceiling, rough-hewn walls, and blocked air slits make the oppressive purpose of the space immediately legible to modern visitors. Pixar’s research team visited Dunnottar during pre-production for Brave (2012), and the silhouette of the keep’s tower against open sky reappears, simplified and dramatised, in the fictional DunBroch Castle of the film.
Practical information
- Opening hours: Typically April–October 09:00–17:00; November–March 10:00–dusk (check dunnottar.co.uk for seasonal variation)
- Entry: Paid admission; discounts for Historic Environment Scotland members
- Terrain: Steep path from car park; uneven ground throughout ruins; not suitable for wheelchairs or pushchairs
- Photography: Unrestricted for personal use; drones require separate permission
- Facilities: Small visitor centre and toilets near car park; no café on site
Getting there
Dunnottar Castle lies 3 km south of Stonehaven on the A92 coastal road. Stonehaven is served by regular ScotRail trains from Aberdeen (20 min) and Dundee (45 min). From Stonehaven station, the castle is a 3-km coastal walk or a short taxi ride. A signed car park sits directly above the castle on the clifftop. There is no direct bus service to the site.
Nearby
- Stonehaven Harbour (3 km north) — historic fishing harbour with traditional smokehouses; the town is the home of the deep-fried Mars bar
- Kinneff Church (8 km south) — the modest kirk where the Scottish Crown Jewels were buried beneath the floor from 1652 to 1660; a small exhibition marks the hiding place
- Crathes Castle and Gardens (25 km north-west, National Trust for Scotland) — 16th-century tower house with extraordinary painted ceilings
Sources
- Wikipedia: Dunnottar Castle
- Historic Environment Scotland — Scheduled Monument record
- Dunnottar Castle official site — dunnottar.co.uk
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