Dunnottar Castle
Dunnottar castle, perched atop a rocky outcrop in Stonehaven, hid the Scottish Crown Jewels during the Scottish Wars of Independence (late 13th and early 14th centuries). In 1296 King Edward I of England took the castle only for William Wallace to reclaim it in 1297, burning down the church in the process with the entire English garrison still in it. Later, in 1650, Oliver Cromwell sacked the castle to find the Crown Jewels following an eight month siege. However, just before the castle fell, the Crown Jewels were smuggled out by some ladies who took them by boat to a small church just down the coast in the village of Kinneff, where they remained undetected for eleven years.
Great Britain, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing parliamentary democracy and in advancing literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one-fourth of the ear... ... read more 
