Dunnottar Castle. Aberdeen, Scotland

While performing with Disney On Ice, I had the chance to visit this marvelous Scottish landmark, and I’d love to share a piece of its history through my images. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Dunnottar Castle by Pablo Saccinto

Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the northeast coast of Scotland, about 2 miles south of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire. 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 isn’t just a “pretty ruin” — it’s a microcosm of Scottish history: prehistory, early Christianity, medieval warfare, crown jewels, religious persecution, political betrayal, collapse, rebirth.

a glamorous “palace on the cliffs” that once witnessed brutal sieges and torture; a heritage site where people both sought refuge and suffered oppression.

🔎 Interesting, Obscure or Overlooked Facts that I found about Dunnottar

1. Its rock is 440 million years old — a “pudding stone.”The headland on which Dunnottar stands is made of ancient Silurian-period conglomerate: big pebbles and rocks embedded in extremely hard cement-like matrix. The cement is tougher than the rocks themselves, meaning any cracks go straight through the pebbles, not around them. Dunnottar Castle+1

   • In short: the natural “pedestal” of the castle is as dramatic and weird as the ruins — and partly why the site is so defensible.

2. Human presence there predates the castle by millennia — possibly back to 5000 BC.Archaeologists have found evidence that people (likely members of the Picts) were using a nearby sea-stack fort around 5000 BC to 700 AD. The very name “Dunnottar” stems from the Pictish “dun,” meaning “fort.” Dunnottar Castle+1

   • In other words: Dunnottar’s history isn’t “just medieval castle” — it’s built on a site humans considered strategic for thousands of years.

3. A religious site before a military fortress — possibly established by a 5th-century missionary.Local tradition holds that a church was founded at the site by St Ninian, an early Christian missionary, converting Picts to Christianity. That would make the site sacred long before it became a stronghold. Wikipedia+1

4. It’s seen repeated cycle of destruction — even before the “classic” castle was built.According to some accounts, when English soldiers sheltered in the church during a siege by William Wallace in 1297, they were burned alive — and the castle (or what existed) was destroyed. Bits of the burned chapel survive today. Britain Express+1

   • That’s brutal — and shows the site’s violent medieval past is deeper than just bankrupt nobles and internal strife.

5. It wasn’t continuously occupied — after 1715 it was stripped of everything and left a ruin.The last noble owners (the Earl Marischal family) lost their estates after backing the 1715 Jacobite rebellion. Dunnottar was sold, “un-roofed,” emptied of all furniture, fittings, even floors and ceilings — left to decay for centuries. Wikipedia+2Britain Express+2

   • That decline explains much of the crumbling we see today — it's not just old age, it’s deliberate dismantling.

6. One of its darkest chapters — the imprisonment of 167 Covenanters in a tiny vaulted cellar.In 1685, people who refused to accept imposed religious reforms were locked in what became known as the “Whigs’ Vault.” Conditions were appalling: cramped, no sanitation, little food — some tried to escape; some died; many were later shipped off, and many died en route or soon after. pressandjournal.co.uk+2Britain Express+2

   • This grim history often gets overshadowed by the romance of ruins and legends — but the vault remains a powerful, chilling reminder of religious persecution.

7. It helped save the Honours of Scotland — the Scottish Crown Jewels — from destruction.During the mid-17th century, when the forces of Oliver Cromwell invaded, the Scottish crown jewels were hidden at Dunnottar. A daring smuggling operation whisked them out — reportedly hidden in sacks of wool or flax — and buried elsewhere until it was safe to return them. Wikipedia+2The Hazel Tree+2

   • Without Dunnottar’s remote position and rugged layout, those jewels might have been lost forever.

8. Despite its dramatic look, some of its 16th-century “defenses” were more decorative than functional.The 5th Earl Marischal transformed the fortress into a grand palace with crenellations, gun-ports and a “fortified” gatehouse — yet many historians believe these were more to display status (and scare off smugglers or small raiders) rather than withstand serious siege artillery. Wikipedia+1

9. It’s been used in modern film and fiction — from gritty movies to family-friendly fantasies.The castle has doubled as a set for films like Hamlet (with Mel Gibson) — and inspired the castle of Princess Merida in Brave. pressandjournal.co.uk+2go-to-scotland.com+2

   • That cinematic/glamour side starkly contrasts with the grim, violent history hidden in its walls.

10. Up until the 20th century, parts of the castle were being actively dismantled by locals.After its abandonment, stones from Dunnottar were taken to build houses and walls in the nearby town of Stonehaven. It took a restoration program in the 1920s (initiated by a private owner) to save what remains and open it to the public. The Hazel Tree+2Wikipedia+2