Dunnottar Castle sits on a headland so sheer its defenders once reckoned it unconquerable, and through the winter of 1651 to 1652 they proved it. Governor George Ogilvy's garrison held out against Cromwell's forces, smuggling food in by boat under cover of darkness while sheltering Scotland's crown jewels, the Honours of Scotland. By May 1652, Dunnottar was the last place in Scotland still flying the royal flag.

When the garrison surrendered, Ogilvy and his wife were imprisoned within the castle's own walls, and Elizabeth died there from mistreatment. The Honours' sword belt later vanished for a century, turning up built into a wall before finally reaching the Crown in 1892.

Restored in the 1920s by Lady Cowdray after a picnic left her smitten, the ruin now anchors VoiceMap's Stonehaven tour, which traces this tale of concealment and endurance, along with Robert Burns' grandfather, once the castle's gardener.