Dunnottar

Dunnottar Castle is credited with saving the Honours of Scotland (Scottish Crown Jewels) when all of Scotland was invaded and the castle stood as the last holdout. They had been used in the king’s coronation but couldn’t be returned to Edinburgh because Oliver Cromwell had marched north and taken the city. It was decided that Dunnottar would be the safest place and they were smuggled into the castle in sacks of wool just before Cromwell’s troops laid siege. When the castle surrendered six months later, the honours were nowhere to be found and could not be destroyed by the English forces. The wife of the governor of the castle had been allowed to visit three times during the siege. Each time she hid the crown, sceptre, or sword in among her things and got them past the English to be brought to a nearby church and buried under the floor. At the time of the Restoration, the honours were dug up and returned to the King.Read more