Undiscovered Scotland

 

Slains Castle is a large imposing ruin fronting directly onto south-east facing cliffs about a kilometre east of Cruden Bay. You can walk to it from a car park in the village itself, or from another at a bend on the A975 at to the north of the castle.

There are, confusingly, two Slains Castles on this stretch of coast. The original lay a mile north-east of Collieston and about six miles south-west of its successor. This was built in the 1200s as a fortress. But in 1594 the owner, the Earl of Erroll backed a plot by the Earl of Huntly against King James VI. James responded by blowing up Old Slains Castle, and not much remains of it today.

The Earl of Erroll returned from exile in 1597 and made his peace with James. Rather than try to rebuild Slains, he instead used a tower house at Bowness as the basis for a new Slains Castle. The tower was extended and ranges of buildings were added around a courtyard.

In 1664 the castle was again expanded and altered, and a corridor was built across the courtyard. The final major change came in 1836 when further wings were added and the underlying castle was given a granite facing and generally Disneyfied. (Continues below images...)

 

Building costs and high living did little for the family finances and in 1916 death duties forced the 20th Earl of Erroll to sell Slains Castle. The new owner allowed the castle to fall into disrepair, and in 1925 its roof was removed and valuable dressed stone removed for re-use elsewhere.

Slains Castle today is a slightly unsettling place. It comes as little surprise to discover that Bram Stoker used it as inspiration for his story of Dracula. Earlier distinguished visitors included Samuel Johnson and James Boswell on their tour of the Highlands and Islands in August 1773. You can read Johnson's description here, and Boswell's here.

The front of the castle lies close to the edge of the cliffs, while its rear, beyond what were once its gardens, is protected from unwanted guests by a deep cleft that cuts into the cliffs as far as the main access road. Internally, the castle is a collection of mostly brick-built intersecting corridors wrapped around rooms now deeply carpeted in nettles. In the heart of the castle is the courtyard, though it takes some time to work out which were outside areas in the original design and which were inside.

Slain's general air of creepiness is not helped by the vaulted room accessed down a muddy slide that was probably once a kitchen store or wine cellar complete with large stone storage bins all the way around the walls.

Most castle ruins in Scotland are well cared for, often by Historic Environment Scotland. Most are carefully maintained as ruins and come complete with interpretation boards, mown grass, and consolidated walls. Slains Castle is distinctly different. You'd be hard pressed to call it attractive, even on the brightest of days, but is is most certainly interesting. This is what happens to ruins when nature has just been left to get on with it.