Cowie Castle

The barely recognizable walls of Cowie Castle.

Cowie Castle is the ruin of a former fortress and is located on the Scottish North Sea coast, north of the town of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire . To the south, the Cowie Bridge spans the Cowie Water . To the north are the ruins of the Chapel Of St. Mary And St. Nathalan , which is said to have been founded by St. Nathalan himself. Stone circles in the area prove that people lived here as early as the Iron Age . Other famous castles and estates in the area include Dunnottar Castle in the south, Fetteresso Castle in the southwest, Ury House in the west and Muchalls Castle in the north.

history

Little is known about Cowie Castle. It is often reported that Malcolm Canmore built the facility, although well-known historians have not yet been able to confirm this. However, one is roughly certain that Cowie Castle was built as early as the 11th century.

Its favorable location and good infrastructure, together with the neighboring complex Dunnottar Castle in the south, formed an extremely important and indispensable coastal protection, and military movements on land and water could be monitored and controlled.

Cowie Castle is said to have been the most important complex in the area after Dunnottar in the Middle Ages, because it is surrounded by important strategic routes such as the Causey Mounth Trackway or the Elsick Mounth, which was even used by the Romans . Allegedly, Cowie is said to have once been a royal hunting lodge. Today only a few remains of the wall can be seen.

The facility was classified as a Scheduled Monument in July 2001 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map Landranger 45, Stonehaven and Banchory, 1: 50,000 scale, 2004
2. ^ Watt, Archibald, Highways and Byways around Kincardineshire , Stonehaven Heritage Society (1985)
3. ↑ Kilwhang or Stanehive-It's a Grand Place , Leopard Magazine online article ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ C. Michael Hogan, Causey Mounth , Megalithic Portal, ed. By A. Burnham, Nov 3, 2007
5. ↑ Christie Lineage, Skateraw ( Memento of the original from October 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ ^{a b} Scheduled Monument - entry . In: Historic Scotland .

Coordinates: 56 ° 58 '31.1 "  N , 2 ° 11' 34.8"  W.