Cruden Bay · Aberdeenshire

Slains Castle

A granite silhouette standing against the North Sea — seat of the Hays, witness to four centuries of history, and muse of the gothic imagination.

A silhouette in the wind

On the cliffs of Cruden Bay

Perched on the granite cliffs of Aberdeenshire, a few miles from the village of Cruden Bay, New Slains Castle has overlooked the North Sea since the late 16th century. Its core is a tower built by Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll, after the destruction of Old Slains — relic of an older fortress, whose ruins survive near Collieston.

The present castle blends several eras: mortared granite, medieval red brick and sandstone overlie one another, witnesses to successive building campaigns. Beneath the state rooms, the basement kitchens have kept their hearths and their stone niches.

Pl. IRock arch, Cruden Bay — « Bowness »

Library interior — Pl. IIHalls & library — Distinguished visitors

1773 – 1910

The illustrious guests

In 1773, Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, during their famous journey to the Hebrides, broke their travels at Slains. Boswell recorded an uncomfortable night, troubled by pillows stuffed with sea-fowl feathers of a stubborn smell — a detail that tells the harshness of this spray-beaten seat.

Later, Bram Stoker, a regular guest at Cruden Bay between 1892 and 1910, absorbed the atmosphere of the place and named it in his novel The Mystery of the Sea. Though tradition holds that he drew the inspiration for Dracula here, the link is likely exaggerated: his earliest notes date from 1890, before his discovery of the village. The legend, however, has outlived him.

Stone & time

Chronicle of a castle

13th – 15th c.

Old Slains Castle

The original fortress stands near Collieston, some eight kilometres south-west of the present castle. Its remains, now reduced to a fragment of wall upon a headland, date chiefly from the 15th century.

1594

The royal destruction

After the victory at Glenlivet, James VI marches on the north-east to crush the Catholic rebellion of Francis Hay. Old Slains is razed on his order; the 9th Earl takes the road to exile.

1597

Bowness

On his return, Francis Hay chooses a new site, on the cliffs of Cruden Bay, and there builds an enclosed courtyard and a square tower. The place takes the name of Bowness, after a double rock arch at the north of the peninsula, whose profile recalls a drawn bow.

1664

New Slains Castle

The wings surrounding the courtyard are extended with a gallery. The seat, enlarged, now takes the name of New Slains Castle, which it will keep until its ruin.

1836 – 1837

John Smith's mansion

The 18th Earl entrusts Aberdeen architect John Smith with a complete overhaul: Slains is reborn as a Scots Baronial mansion, faced in smooth granite contrasting with the older masonry, over three- and four-storey structures, its basement kitchens still legible today.

1916 – 1925

Sale & dismantling

Sold in 1916 by the 20th Earl to Sir John Ellerman — who never visited — the castle was acquired by a demolition firm. In the summer of 1925, its roof was removed and its materials dispersed: slates, doors, windows, all were sold.

Today

A listed shell

Slains stands a roofless shell, most of its walls still at full height, listed Category B by Historic Environment Scotland. A restoration project, launched in 2004, was suspended in 2009 in the wake of the financial crisis.

The roof is gone, but the stone remains — and with it, the memory.
On the cliffs of Slains

Scottish coastal architecture — Pl. IIIArchitecture & fortifications — Granite & sandstone

Aberdeenshire coast — Pl. IVThe North Sea — Aberdeenshire

Pilgrimage & memory

For the House of Slains, the castle remains a place of memory; for scholars, an exceptional study site.

Read the chronicle The Lord of Regality