Discover 6 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Stonehaven (United Kingdom). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven Tolbooth, and Cowie Chapel. Also, be sure to include Fetteresso Castle in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Stonehaven (Scotland).
Table of Contents
Dunnottar Castle
Ruins of 13th-century clifftop fortress. Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about 2 miles south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength.
Dunnottar is best known as the place where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, were hidden from Oliver Cromwell's invading army in the 17th century. The property of the Keiths from the 14th century, and the seat of the Earl Marischal, Dunnottar declined after the last Earl forfeited his titles by taking part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. The castle was restored in the 20th century and is now open to the public.
The ruins of the castle are spread over 1.4 hectares (3+1⁄2 acres), surrounded by steep cliffs that drop to the North Sea, 160 feet (50 metres) below. A narrow strip of land joins the headland to the mainland, along which a steep path leads up to the gatehouse. The various buildings within the castle include the 14th-century tower house as well as the 16th-century palace. Dunnottar Castle is a scheduled monument, and twelve structures on the site were listed buildings.[1]
Address: Stonehaven, AB39 2TL, Stonehaven
Stonehaven Tolbooth
Museum in Stonehaven, Scotland. The Stonehaven Tolbooth is a late 16th-century stone building originally used as a courthouse and a prison in the town of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Constructed of local Old Red Sandstone, the prison probably attained its greatest note, when three local Episcopalian clergymen were imprisoned for holding services for more than nine people. Lying midway along the old north quay of the Stonehaven Harbour, the present day Tolbooth serves as a history museum with a restaurant on the floor above the ground floor. It is a category A listed building.[2]
Address: 3 Old Pier, AB39 2JU Stonehaven
Cowie Chapel
Chapel in Scotland. The Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan is a ruined chapel overlooking the North Sea immediately north of Stonehaven, in the Mearns of Scotland, along the northern shoreline of Stonehaven Bay. The founding of this Christian place of worship is associated with St. Nathalan. who lived circa 650 AD. The structure is alternatively known as Cowie Chapel. The chapel is at the point where the Highland Boundary Fault meets the sea and so is on the dividing line between the highlands and lowlands of Scotland.[3]
Fetteresso Castle
Castle in the Kirkton of Fetteresso, Scotland. Fetteresso Castle is a 14th-century tower house, rebuilt in 1761 as a Scottish Gothic style Palladian manor, with clear evidence of prehistoric use of the site. It is situated immediately west of the town of Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, slightly to the west of the A90 dual carriageway. Other notable historic fortified houses or castles in this region are Dunnottar Castle, Muchalls Castle, Fiddes Castle, Cowie Castle and Monboddo House.[4]
Dunnottar Parish Church
Dunnottar Parish Church is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, serving Stonehaven in the south of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is within the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Kincardine and Deeside. During 2020, the congregation united to the South Parish Church in Stonehaven to form Carronside Church of Scotland. On 3 June 2021, the Rev. Sarah Smith was inducted into the charge.[5]
Address: Cameron St, AB39 3XL Stonehaven
Cowie Bridge
Bridge in Stonehaven, Scotland. Cowie Bridge is a roadway bridge which carries the B979 across the mouth of the Cowie Water in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Historically, the area in the vicinity of the Cowie Bridge site has been an old fishing village known as Cowie Village. Between the Cowie Bridge and the North Sea, a new pedestrian bridge is planned, which will also support a new pipeline structure. The site of Cowie Bridge is approximately the point of the southern terminus of the Causey Mounth trackway, which was the only available medieval route crossing the coastal Grampian Mountains northerly by way of Muchalls Castle and Gillybrands.[6]