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Dunnottar Castle, the huge, gaunt ruin that stands on its rocky coastal crag about three miles south of Stonehaven, has been used as a stronghold since Pictish times, but its most famous moment came in September 1651, when the Royalist garrison under Sir George Earlier that year, Charles II had been crowned king at Scone, near Perth, an event that Cromwell saw as a direct challenge to the Commonwealth, of which he was lord protector. Consequently, he sent an army north, to seize the Royal Regalia and thereby deny the Scots their royal heritage. Having defeated the king's army at Worcester and Dunbar, Cromwell's army marched through Scotland and laid siege to Dunnottar, to which the Regalia had been taken for safe keeping. After a bitter siege lasting eight months, the remnants of the Royalist garrison marched out of the castle, having agreed an honourable surrender, laid down their arms and returned to their homes. At last, the prize for which the Roundheads had been waiting was within their grasp. They descended on the castle and plundered it, wrecking the library and desecrating the chapel, desperately searching for the Regalia and the king's private papers and belongings so closely guarded by Ogilvy. Their search was in vain. The only things remaining in the castle of any value were the powder and armaments abandoned by Ogilvy's men. The Regalia and the other valuables had gone. The manner of their 'disappearance' remains one of the most romantic episodes in Scottish history. Many stories have been told regarding the disappearance of the Regalia from The Regalia itself, according to the most plausible version, was lowered to the beach at the rear of the castle, where a young servant girl in the employ of Mrs Christian Grainger and the Reverend James Grainger of Kinneff was out collecting dulse, a type of edible seaweed. Dulse gathering was a common activity in the area, and so the girl's behaviour would not have attracted any undue attention. The story relates that the girl concealed the Regalia among the dulse and took it back to the Graingers' manse at Kinneff, some six miles further down the coast. Shortly afterwards, at great risk to themselves, the Graingers were able to wrap the crown, sword and sceptre in linen cloths and bury them beneath the floor of the church, where they rested for many years. Sir George Ogilvy and his wife were imprisoned and tortured for nearly seven months in an attempt to get them to reveal the whereabouts of the Regalia. To their great credit, neither gave in, Lady Ogilvy insisting that the Regalia had been sent abroad to the exiled king. |
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