Editing Stonehaven (section)

==History==
[[File:Stonehaven Town Hall - geograph.org.uk - 950512.jpg|thumb|[[Stonehaven Town Hall]]]]
The town lies at the southern origin of the ancient [[Causey Mounth]] [[trackway]], which was built on high ground to make passable this only available [[medieval]] route from coastal points south of [[Aberdeen]]. This ancient passage specifically connected the [[Bridge of Dee]] to [[Cowie Castle]] via the [[Portlethen Moss]] and the Stonehaven central plaza.<ref>{{Cite book |last=C Michael Hogan |title=The History of Muchalls Castle |publisher=Lumina Technologies Press |year=2005}}</ref> The route was taken by the [[William Keith, 7th Earl Marischal|Earl Marischal]] and [[James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose|Marquess of Montrose]] when they led a [[Covenanter]] army of over 9,000 men in the first battle of the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms]] in 1639.<ref name="Watt">{{Cite book |last=Archibald Watt |title=Highways and Byways Round Stonehaven |publisher=Waverley Press |year=1976}}</ref>
[[File:David Lizars (1754 - 1812) - View of Stonehaven from the South East - ABDAG017336 - Aberdeen City Council (Archives, Gallery and Museums Collection).jpg|thumb|left|View of Stonehaven from the South East]]

The Covenanters were imprisoned in [[Dunnottar Castle]], where many died. A memorial to them can be found in [[Dunnottar Parish Church|Dunnottar Church]]. Other castles in the vicinity are [[Fetteresso Castle]] and [[Muchalls Castle]], both of which are in private ownership and not open to the public. The oldest surviving structure in Stonehaven is the [[Stonehaven Tolbooth]] at the harbour, used as an early prison and now a museum.<ref>{{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB41655|desc=Old Pier, Old Tolbooth of Stonehaven including Boundary Walls and Gates|cat=A|access-date=20 March 2019}}</ref>

Dunnottar Castle, perched atop a rocky outcrop, was home to the Keith family, and during the [[Scottish Wars of Independence]], the [[Honours of Scotland|Scottish Crown Jewels]] were hidden there. In 1296, King [[Edward I of England]] took the [[castle]] only for [[William Wallace]] to reclaim it in 1297, burning down the [[Church (building)|church]] in the process with the entire English garrison still in it. In 1650, [[Oliver Cromwell]] sacked the castle to find the Crown Jewels following an eight-month siege (having previously destroyed the English Crown Jewels). 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.

Stonehaven was a [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] town in the [[Jacobite rising of 1715|Fifteen]] and it was a safe base for the retreating Jacobite army to stay overnight on the night of 5–6 February 1716. In the [[Jacobite rising of 1745|Forty-Five]] Stonehaven, part of the [[Scottish Episcopal Church|Episcopalian]] north-east, was again ‘reliably Jacobite’ and it was one of the north-eastern ports where reinforcements, plus money and equipment were periodically landed from France.<ref>C. Duffy, ''The 45'' (2003), p.352.</ref> After 1709, when [[Dunnottar Parish Church]] was taken over by the [[Church of Scotland]] Episcopalian services were held in the tolbooth until a meeting house was built in the High Street in 1738. Following the failure of the Forty-Five, the [[Prince William, Duke of Cumberland|Duke of Cumberland]] ordered the building's demolition. Services were then held in a house on the High Street.<ref name="Episcopal">{{Cite web |title=BrMS 9 Records of St James' Church, Stonehaven |url=http://arccat.dundee.ac.uk/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=8&dsqSearch=%28Level%3D%27Fonds%27%29 |access-date=22 November 2017 |website=Archive Services Online Catalogue |publisher=University of Dundee |archive-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720095600/https://archives.dundee.ac.uk |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Stonehaven Town Hall]], which is an events venue in the town, was completed in 1878.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-A-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA224|title=The British Architect and Northern Engineer|page=224|date=10 May 1878|volume=9|publisher=J.F. Wells for the Proprietors, The British Architect Company|access-date=26 October 2021|archive-date=20 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720095559/https://www.google.com/books/edition/British_Architect/6-A-AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=&pg=PA224&printsec=frontcover|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Near the [[Cowie Bridge]], at the north of Stonehaven, was a fishing village known as [[Cowie, Aberdeenshire|Cowie]], which has now been subsumed into Stonehaven. Somewhat further north are the ruins of [[Cowie Castle]]. Slightly to the west of Stonehaven is the ruined [[Ury House]], originally a property of the [[Clan Fraser|Frasers]].

A [[fossil]] of the oldest known land animal, ''[[Pneumodesmus newmani]]'', a [[species]] of [[millipede]], was found at Stonehaven's Cowie Beach in 2004.<ref>{{Cite news |date=25 January 2004 |title=Fossil find 'oldest land animal' |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3427499.stm |access-date=23 December 2012 |archive-date=8 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208185248/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3427499.stm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Why Stonehaven is Special |url=http://www.stonehavenguide.net/why-stonehaven-is-special.html |access-date=23 December 2012 |publisher=Stonehaven Guide |archive-date=21 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221214602/http://www.stonehavenguide.net/why-stonehaven-is-special.html |url-status=live }}</ref>