John Slezer's Engravings of Scotland

Wemyss Castle ('Dunotter Castle')

Slezer entitled this prospect 'Dunotter Castle'. In fact shows the castle of Wemyss in Fife, originally built in the 12th century.

The castle pictured here dated from the 1400s. It had been rebuilt in the 16th century after destruction by the English army during the Wars of Independence. Wemyss Castle was the place where Mary Queen of Scots met her second husband, Lord Darnley, in 1565. It was restored in the 1950s and the Wemyss family still lives there today. Among more recent royal visitors has been the Queen.

The castle towers high on a cliff above the Firth of Forth. Galleons, smaller boats and rowing boats have been added, and one appears to have a fishing net in the water (far left). The small houses at the foot of the cliff are possibly a row of fishermen's cottages, close to what is now West Wemyss.

This plate was intended for Slezer's unpublished volume, The Ancient and Present state of Scotland. It eventually appeared in the 1719 edition of Theatrum Scotiae.