Tour Scotland video of Dunnottar Castle. A windy day at the ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th to 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been an early fortress of the Dark Ages. Dunnottar played a strategic role in the history of Scotland from the Middle Ages through to the Enlightenment, because of the location: it overlooked the shipping lanes to northern Scotland; and is situated on a narrow coastal terrace that controlled land access to the coastal south via Portlethen Moss to Aberdeen during the medieval period. Both the Jacobites and Hanoverians used Dunnottar Fortress. In 1689 during Viscount Dundee's campaign, fourteen suspected Jacobites from Aberdeen were held in the fortress for approximately a year, including George Liddel, professor of mathematics. In 1715 the Dunnotar cannons were utilized by the Jacobites; following this uprising all the possessions of the Earl Mariscal were forfeit, and the fortress was dismantled three years later. The castle of Dunottar, was sold by Sir Patrick Keith-Murray, Bart., in July 1873, to Major Innes, of Cowie and Raemoir. Dunnottar Castle was the runaway winner in VisitScotland's " 8th Wonder of the World " competition.

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