Dunnottar, coast town and par., Kincardineshire -- par., 7783 ac., pop. 2498; town (forming part of Stonehaven), 1708; 1 mile SW. of Stonehaven is D. House; 1½ mile SE., on a massive rock rising 160 ft. sheer from the sea, is D. Castle, one of the most imposing ruins in Scotland. The castle existed in the 7th century, and was dismantled in 1720; during the Commonwealth it was selected for the preservation of the Scottish regalia, and in the last year of Charles II. it was used as a State prison for the Covenanters.

(John Bartholomew, Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887))