FOR centuries it offered sustenance to weary travellers as they arrived at one of Scotland's most spectacular castles in a display of the age-old tradition of Highland hospitality.

The long oak table, known as the Black Stock of Dunnottar, would have been crammed with meat, bread and wine and acted almost as a medieval food bank for those in need of respite from the wilds of the north east.

But now the artefact has been lost to history for more than almost 100 years, and historians have launched an trace its whereabouts after efforts to track its resting place ran cold.

The Black Stock was kept in a special room of Dunnottar Castle as a sign of the hospitality of the Keith Earls Marischal, and was fashioned from a single piece of three inches thick.

Legend states that it was made by members of the Catti tribe from the plank of a boat which brought them to Scotland from Germany as they fled before the Roman legions.

A silver plaque fixed to the table inscribed in Latin in part reads that through "many mishaps" and "crisis in Germany" the table had been bought to Caithness.

The first mention historians can find of the Black Stock occurs in 1617, at which time it was known to be very old and famous throughout Scotland and even England, with English knights travelling long distances out of their way to see it.

It is said to have been among the Keith family's most prized possessions, with earls' most prized possession.

During the occupation of the castle by Oliver Cromwell's troops during the civil wars, the imprisoned earl in the Tower of London made special mention of table, indicating it was more important to him than any of the fine tapestries, silver or paintings in the castle

But it was taken from Dunnottar along with many other goods when the possessions of the Earls were seized by the crown following the failed Jacobite rebellion of 1715, and the last records show it was purchased by a relative of the earls, Alexander Keith of Ravelstone.

The stock then stood in the entrance to his home, Ravelstone House in Edinburgh, and in 1926 it was owned by Sir William Keith-Murray before all trace of it is lost.

Academic Miles Kerr-Peterson, who recently completed a Ph.D on the history of the Earls Marischal, said that he had become fascinated by the legend of the Black Stock while researching the family's history.

He said: "The Black Stock was used to give sustenance to travellers and would have been loaded with meat, bread and wine because it was also a way for the Earls to display their wealth through their generosity.

"It was quite famous and there are even tales of English knights going out their way to visit it when they were travelling in Scotland.

"But now it appears to have been lost. The last mention of it was in 1926 when it was definitely in Ravelstone House in Edinburgh. But after that we just don't know what happened to it."

He said that two descriptions of the Black Stock have come down from Victorian times, but there are no surviving images of the table.

He added: "It is such a shame that although it is well-described, there are no paintings of it or early photographs that we know of.

"The Black Stock has a fascinating history and there are many legends associated with it. If we were to find it again its possible that tests could be carried out to find out where it really comes from, and if it really was carried over from Germany.

"There's always the chance that it has been destroyed, but it is so distinctive looking that it is unlikely as it is clear it is an item of furniture with a distinct history."