Fetteresso Castle is a 14th-century tower house, rebuilt in 1761 as a Scottish Gothic style Palladian manor, with clear evidence of prehistoric use of the site. It is situated immediately west of the town of Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, slightly to the west of the A90 dual carriageway. Other notable historic fortified houses or castles in this region are Dunnottar Castle, Muchalls Castle, Fiddes Castle, Cowie Castle and Monboddo House. Prehistory From cropmarks in the "policies" (improved areas) around Fetteresso Castle, there is evidence of a ring ditch sited at the north end of a cursus. A cursus is a prehistoric set of parallel linear structures of unknown purpose that were, somewhat fancifully, considered by antiquarians as used for some type of athletic competition, possibly related to hunting or archery; this is unsubstantiated. In 1822 a cairn was discovered near Fetteresso Castle with some human remains inside. The size and shape of the chamber made of unhewn whinstone clearly show that the burial site was a Bronze Age construct. Some legends say that this is the grave of Malcolm I, who is recorded to have been slain at Fetteresso in AD 954. The burial hillock has become known as Malcolm's Mount, even though it is not likely from current archaeological analysis that the crypt could be so recent. In 1998 a burial urn from the Beaker people was found at Fetteresso Castle. The Roman Camp of Raedykes is located several miles north-west, where a full legion encamped and many archaeological recoveries have been made. This location is one of a string of marching camps that connected Angus to Moray. Middle Ages The property is recorded to have been owned by the Strachans. Robert de Bruce opposed the Balliol (and later the Comyn) claim to the throne of Scotland, which culminated at the Battle of Barra Hill (1308). Castlehill of Strachan was in fact burned out by Robert de Bruce, and the Barony of Strachan later disinherited from the de Strachan family and granted by Robert de Bruce to Sir Alexander Fraser in c. 1316 (Robertson Index, 1-15). The Strachan family were supporters and kinsmen of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan. The barony of Fetteresso eventually passed to William Keith, the Earl Marischal of Scotland, who inherited the barony through his mother, the daughter of Sir Alexander Fraser in the 14th century to the Clan Keith Earls Marischal, who built the tower