After traveling around Edinburgh and the southeastern parts of Scotland, we headed further north, up the east coast to Scotland’s third most populous city, Aberdeen. We stayed for a few days in downtown Aberdeen, taking in a couple restaurants and soaking up the festive mood as their local soccer team won their first Scottish Cup in 35 years. Unfortunately, we didn’t take many photos highlighting our stay in Aberdeen, but we did take a ton of photos at a ruined medieval fortress located about 18 miles south of Aberdeen.
Dunnottar Castle was built in the 15th and 16th centuries, and had the usual, colorful history of sieges, raids, imprisonments, destructions, reconstructions, smugglings, killings and rebellions typical of Scottish Castles of that time period. One interesting historical note, however, is that the castle temporarily held the Honours of Scotland for a brief period of time in the 1600’s. The Honours are a regalia comprised of a crown, sword and scepter worn by Scottish monarchs during coronation ceremonies. In the midst of a lengthy siege by English forces, the Honours were smuggled out of the castle by Christian Fletcher, the wife of a minister from the local parish church. Although there is debate on how she actually smuggled them to safety, one account had her lowering them to a servant from a window high up in the fortress. The servant then hid them in a creel (wicker basket) of seaweed and carried them past the English troops. When the Honours were eventually returned to Edinburgh years later, Fletcher was awarded 2,000 merks by Parliament for her ingenuity and service to the monarchy. The money, unfortunately, was never actually paid out to her in the end.
