“HIDDEN MEDIEVAL DOOR LEADING TO SMUGGLERS’ CAVES DISCOVERED UNDERNEATH SCOTTISH CASTLE.” Given the popularity of stories about smugglers and pirates on western coasts of the British Isles (Poldark—Cornwall; Outlander—Scotland; and, of course, Ireland—Grace O’Malley, the Pirate Queen), this caption is very romantic. It’s on this article by Meilan Solly in the Scientific American. “Stones found near the entranceway indicate the door may have been built into a wall and secured with a bar drawn across its opening.” I can imagine a theatrical scene in which the attempt is made to break down the door.
Although the door is thought to be medieval, radiocarbon dating indicates that the caves were in use as far back as between 135 and 325 A.D.