Folklore & legend

The Maiden's Leap at Huntingtower

Huntingtower Castle, gap between the two towers

Undated tradition, attached to the Ruthven period

In the version given on Wikipedia, Dorothea met a servant at night in the eastern tower where the servants slept. Her mother, the Countess, crossed the bridge from the family quarters in the western tower to catch them. Dorothea heard her coming, climbed to the roof, jumped onto the battlements of the western tower and got back into bed. The next day, the story says, she and her lover eloped and nothing more is known of them.

Mysterious Britain gives a shorter version in which the lover was in the keep and the leap was across to the tower and back to her own bedroom. The legend is the usual explanation offered for the Lady Greensleeves ghost, although the two stories are not always told together. No document ties the leap to a real person.

Huntingtower Castle is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland; check current opening times before visiting.
Evidence
Long-standing local tradition
Access
Open, admission charged
Location
56.410, -3.488 (Sited to the building or field)

Sources: Wikipedia, Huntingtower Castle [other]; Mysterious Britain and Ireland, Huntingtower Castle [other]

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