Gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

254
DUNNOTAR.
were themselves retreating into Angus, Dun-
ning suffered among the rest. It is recorded
by tradition, that, at the conflagration, only one
house in Dunning escaped, and that by an in-
genious device on the part of its proprietrix
and inhabitants. While the rest of the cot-
tages were in flames, she threw parcels of wet
straw on the fire within the house, which rais-
ed such a smoke round this particular dwelling,
that, believing it to be in a fair way of demoli-
tion, the soldiers did not molest it. As com-
memorative of the destruction of the village, a
thorn tree was planted, which now attracts the
notice of visitors from its size and appearance.
It should be mentioned, to the credit of the
Chevalier de St. George, that he took mea-
sures, before quitting the country, for repairing
the mischief occasioned in this district by his
followers, though, from some accident, these
measures were not effectual. The village of
Dunning stands on the banks of the rivulet
called the Dunning Water, (a tributary of the
Earn,) and about half a mile from the base of
the Ochil Hills. It contains a variety of good
houses, and is much neater in appearance than
most places of its size. It is under the go-
vernment of a baron-bailie, and is the seat of
a justice of peace court. It has several friendly
societies, and, besides the parish kirk, two
meeting-houses of dissenters. It is entitled to
hold three annual fairs Population in 1821,
1876.
DUNNOTAR, a parish in Kincardine-
shire, lying on the sea-coast, immediately to the
south of the river Carron, which falls into the
sea at Stonehaven. The parish of Kinneff
bounds it on the south, and Glenbervieon the
west. The parish is of a triangular figure,
and is generally uneven in its surface, and not
very productive, except in the low grounds. It
is divided into two equal portions by a den or
hollow, which, originating at the north-east
angle, widens as it reaches the southern boun-
dary, and is the beginning of the great How
of the Mearns, which from thence extends ac-
cross the island, partly under the designation
of Strathmore. The town of Stonehaven,
within the district, is noticed elsewhere. Dun-
notar kirk is situated near the Carron, not far
from Stonehaven. The sea- coast is here, for
the greater part, very bold, and perforated by
caves ; and the face of the precipices is, in
many places, the appropriate residence of vast
flocks c/f sea- fowl. About a mile and a half
south of Stonehaven, is the extensive fortress
of Dunnotar, once a place of great strength
and importance, but which has been gradually
going to ruin since the attainder of its proprie-
tors in 1716. If the reader can conceive the
idea of a semicircular sweep of bold precipi-
tous coast — an immense hill of rock projected
into the sea from the bottom of the semicircle
— and on the top of this rock a series of build-
ings rather resembling a deserted city than a
dismantled castle — he will have as good amen-
ta! picture of Dunnotar as it is possible to ob-
tain without the assistance of a sister art.
The superficies of the castle measures three
acres, half of the space of Edinburgh Castle,
the rock of which it otherwise somewhat re-
sembles. It is approached by a steep path
winding round the body of the rock, which,
unless by this narrow neck, has no connexion
with the land, and is, in fact, divided from
it by a deep chasm. The visitor in the
present day can only gain admission by ap-
plication to a person who lives in Stone-
haven. Notwithstanding the inaccessible
and inconvenient situation of the summit
of this insulated rock, it was. at one time,
occupied as the site of the parish church and
church-yard, and that at an epoch long before
its assumption as a place of warlike defence.
The building now called the chapel was the
parish church. During the Avar of indepen-
dence which Scotland carried on against Ed-
ward I. the natural strength of the rock in-
duced Sir William Keith, then Great Maris-
chal of Scotland, to build a castle on it, as a
place of safety for himself and friends; but, in
order to avoid offence, he first built a church
for the parish in a more convenient place, not-
withstanding which, the Archbishop of St.
Andrews pronounced sentence of excomunica-
tion against him, for violating sacred ground-
Sir William, on this, applied to Pope Bene-
dict XIII., setting forth the exigency of the
case, and the necessity of such a fortress, with
the circumstance of his having built another
church ; on which His Holiness issued his
Bull, dated July 18, 1294, directing the bishop
to take off the excommunication, and to allow
Sir William to enjoy the castle at all times,
on the payment of a certain recompense to the
church. About the year 1296, this castle was
taken by Sir William Wallace, who, according
to his historian, burnt four thousand English-
men in it. Blind Harry's account of this