15/05/2023
OLD KINNEFF CHURCH THE CROWN JEWELS
This was essentially the church in which the Reverend James Grainger found himself minister when, in late 1651, Cromwell's forces under the command of General George Monck besieged Dunnottar Castle, six miles up the coast. By the time Dunnottar fell on 26 May 1652, it was the last place left in Scotland holding out for Charles II.
Monck was especially keen to take Dunnottar because he knew it was where the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish Crown Jewels, had been taken for safekeeping, and their capture would be hugely symbolic. But when the castle fell, the Honours were nowhere to be found. Reverend Grainger's wife had smuggled them out of the besieged castle and the couple had buried them under the floor of Kinneff Old Church, only revealing their whereabouts after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.
The church is open to the public and you can see replicas of the Crown Jewels inside as can be seen in the video