Beauty, history and intrigue with supernatural connections

Romantic castles, picturesque villages, spectacular sea cliffs, enchanting coves and smugglers’ caves coupled with shipwrecked ghosts, historic battles and even a vampire or two can all be found between Fraserburgh and Newburgh.

This short drive is just over 33 miles long but takes curious travellers on a journey through time spanning thousands of years of human history.

Just outside of Fraserburgh the villages of Cairnbulg and Inverallochy are the first points of interest.There have been fishing communities on this stretch of coastline since at least the 1500s.

Nearby Cairnbulg castle (pictured above), can trace its origins back to the 13th century when it was one of the Nine Castles of the Knuckle and a stronghold of the Comyn family, rivals to Robert The Bruce for the Scottish crown.

Slains Castle

Photo by Damian Shields/ VisitScotland /North East 250

Bruce seized the castle during his Harrying of Buchan in 1308 when he laid waste to Comyn lands throughout the region. He later gifted the estate to the Earls of Ross in 1316 who in turn passed it to the Fraser family in 1375 who held on to it for almost 300 years.

Extensively rebuilt during the 19th century by the Duthie family the castle returned to the Frasers in the 1930s and remains the home of Katherine Fraser, Mistress of Saltoun.

Sometime around the 1860s a cholera epidemic resulted in many of the old collection of fishermen’s homes being cleared to make way for the planned fishing villages which formed the foundations of today’s Cairnbulg.

Expansion and “modernisation’ of the villages coincided with a boom in herring fishing and at one time more than 200 boats operated out of Cairnbulg and neighbouring Inverallochy.

As far back as 1696 records show that at least 19 fishermen lived in and worked from Inverallochy where the remains of Inverallochy Castle can still be seen near the village. It is believed to have been built sometime in the early 16th century, possibly by Sir William Comyn of Inverallochy who was Lord Lyon of Scotland from 1512 to 1519.

Although the castle, a scheduled monument, is a ruin visitors with a passion for history should take time to visit Maggie’s Hoosie, a perfectly preserved 19th century fishwife's cottage. The tiny two-bedroom dwelling, with its earthen floors and lack of electricity or running water, provides a glimpse of what life was like for ordinary families in the 1800s. The house belonged to a local woman, Maggie, who was born there in 1867 and lived in the property just as it is now until her death in 1950.

Maggie's Hoosie

Photo by Damian Shields /VisitScotland / North East 250

One other claim to fame enjoyed by Inverallochy is that in the 19th century the local fishermen were renowned as great golfers. In 1905 a team from Inverallochy Golf Club, which opened in 1888, won a match against UK Prime Minister Arthur Balfour and nine of his Westminster parliamentary colleagues.

Once through Inverallochy the route follows the coast to St Combs which takes its name from a church dedicated to St Colm or Columba which used to exist in the area.

Although records of a settlement only go back to the 17th century there is evidence people were living around the area since the Neolithic period. St Combs has possibly one of the best stretches of sand dune beach in the country.

One story often recounted about the area, possibly apocryphal, is that during the 1940 evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk one of the ‘little ships’ involved was owned by a fisherman from Cairnbulg. He is said to have sailed more than 700 miles to the battle zone and braved shot and shell to go up and down the French beach shouting: ''Is there onybody here fae Cairnbulg, Inverallochy or St Combs? I'll only tak' folk fae the Broch but if there's ony room left, I'll tak' folk fae Peterheid.’'

British troops being rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk

St Combs lies in the parish of Lonmay, a small cluster of cottages about five miles inland via the B9033. Although a little bit of a detour (about seven minutes) Rock 'n' Roll fans might want to have a look as Lonmay is the village where the family of Elvis Presley originate.

It’s believed Andrew Presley, the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of the King of Rock ’n’ Roll, married Elspeth Leg on August 23 1713 in the old parish church built in 1607, which is now a ruin.

Their son, also called Andrew, emigrated to North Carolina in 1745 and began the American branch of the family.

Elvis Presley whose family came from the farming hamlet of Lonmay

Back on the road between St Combs and Peterhead the next village on route is Crimond, which lies about two miles inland from the coast.

Once part of the estates owned by Sir Archibald Douglas, former Guardian of Scotland, it was here in 1297 that William Wallace rested while heading north to join up with fellow resistance leader Andrew de Moray, the often forgotten hero of the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

The village, which gives its name to the tune usually associated with the hymn ‘The Lord’s My Shepherd’, has another curious claim to fame - time is different. The village church clock has an extra minute between the 11 and 12 making for 61 minutes in the hour.

Crimond clock with 61 minutes to the hour

Photo by Sagaciousphil CC BY-SA 3.0

Next on the road is St Fergus. Now the home to the imposing North Sea gas terminal, processing around 15 per cent of the entire UK gas supply, the settlement dates back several centuries.

Nearby, the remains of Inverugie Castle are all that’s left of an imposing 14th century fortress built to replace an earlier motte-and-bailey castle constructed by the Cheynne family in the 12th century.

In 1345 the castle passed to the Keiths who controlled it and the surrounding area until their lands were seized in 1745 as a punishment for supporting the Jacobites.

Interestingly, sometime in the 18th century the poet Robert Burns’ father, William, trained as a gardener at Inverugie Castle before moving to Ayrshire.

Inverugie Castle where the father of poet Robert Burns was trained as a

Photo by David Purchase CC BY-SA 2.0

A short distance away lies the ruins of the 15th century Craig of Inverugie or Ravenscraig Castle. Once the seat of the barony of Torthorston it was owned first by the Cheyne family and then the Keiths. King James VI is known to have visited the castle in 1589.

Less than five miles from St Fergus is Peterhead, the easternmost point of mainland Scotland and the largest community on this stretch of the route.

Known locally as The Bloo Toon (Blue Town) the residents are known as Bloomogganners. The name is believed to derive from the thick blue stockings, or moggins, the town’s fishermen use to wear.

Peterhead, founded in 1587, was governed by a Feudal Superior who, at the time of the 1715 Jacobite Rising, was the 10th Earl Marischal George Keith who resided at Inverugie Castle just two miles outside the town.

It’s little surprise then that the port was chosen as the landing place for exiled King James VIII who arrived in the country on 22 December 1715 to support the rebellion started by the Earl of Braemar two months earlier on 9 September.

King James arriving in Peterhead 1715

Enthusiasm for the Jacobite cause was very high in the town with both men and women taking up arms on behalf of the exiled James, who was proclaimed King in his absence at Peterhead’s Mercat Cross on 23rd September.

After the failure of the rebellion Hanoverian troops were garrisoned in the town and Peterhead’s defences dismantled. The town’s historic cannons were seized and remain to this day in the Tower of London.

However the town’s Jacobite spirit remained unbroken and in 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to reclaim the throne for his father James, Peterhead was again a rebel port with the harbour being used to land weapons and ammunition.

Following Culloden a number of Jacobites made their escape from Peterhead to exile in Europe. One of them was James Francis Edward Keith who became Field Marshal to Frederick the Great of Prussia. In 1868 King Wilhelm I of Prussia gifted a copy of the statue of Field Marshal James Keith which now stands proudly outside the Town House.

Statue of Field Marshal James Keith

Photo by Ronnie Leask CC BY-SA 2.0

Over the years Peterhead has spawned a number of famous historical characters. It has also provided residence for some of the country’s most notorious names - chiefly as inmates of what was once the most secure prison in Scotland.

Peterhead Prison, which was opened in 1888 and was the last in the UK to have armed guards, is now a museum and major visitor attraction.

Just outside Peterhead lies the village of Boddam close to the spectacular Bullers of Buchan, sea cliffs that rise to 200ft and are home to a variety of seabirds.

Bullers of Buchan

Photo by Damian Shields / VisitScotland / North East 250

People have been living in this area since prehistoric times. Boddam Castle, which is now a ruin, was built in the late 16th century by members of the Keith family. It was here, in 1669, that Sir William Keith was born. A colourful character he went on to become Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1717 and encouraged Benjamin Franklin to set up a printing business.

The Buchan Ness lighthouse is a major landmark in the area. It was from here that many trading and whaling ships set sail for the likes of Archangel and Greenland during the 18th and 19th centuries. As a result of numerous ships running aground on the rugged coastline Robert Stevenson was commissioned to built a lighthouse in 1819 which went into operation in 1827.

There is a common story, immortalised in song, that is often used to poke fun at the folk of Boddam. Sometime around 1772 a ship ran aground on the rocks and the villagers, prevented from claiming salvage rights to the cargo unless there were no survivors, found a live monkey among the wreckage. Unwilling to risk loosing their spoils they hanged the poor animal.

Even today residents of Peterhead tease their neighbours with the cry “Fa hangit the monkey?”

Buchan Ness Lighthouse

Photo by Damian Shields / VisitScotland / North East 250

After leaving Boddam the road follows the coastline to Cruden Bay to the west of Slains Castle, which overlooks the bay in which the popular coastal village is nestled.

Built on the site close to where Scotland’s King Malcolm II stopped an invading army of Danes in 1012 it has a spectacular Old Tom Morris designed golf course, and a beautiful unspoiled beach from where pioneering aviator Tryggve Gran took off to complete the first solo flight across the North Sea to Norway on 30 July 1914.

Other claims to fame include that it was here that Irish author Bram Stoker wrote the first chapters of his novel Dracula. He used to holiday at Cruden Bay regularly between 1893 and 1910. He is believed to have drawn inspiration for Dracula’s Castle from Slains Castle.

Now a ruin the former home of the Earls of Erroll was first built in the late 16th century and extended and refurbished several times over the following centuries. The last major alterations were carried out in 1837 to resemble more of a baronial mansion than a cliff top fortress.

After more than 300 years the 20th Earl of Erroll sold it to a businessman in 1913 who leased the property out. It was eventually abandoned and stripped of its roof in 1925 to avoid taxes.

In the 1840s the 18th Earl founded the fishing community of Port Erroll and although the harbour area still retains the name the village is universally known as Cruden bay.

Slains Castle - the inspiration for Dracula's vampire lair

Photo by Damian Shields / VisitScotland /North East 250

When he wasn’t staying at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel in the village Bram Stoker would often rent a cottage in the clifftop hamlet of Whinnyfold (pronounced finny-fa) above Cruden Bay to write.

Created as a small fishing community in the 1860s local residents, numbering more than 190 fishermen and their families, had to scramble down the steep cliffs to reach their boats on the beach,

It’s no surprise that Stoker found inspiration there, especially for his novel ‘The Mystery of the Sea’, as just a short distance away lie a series of treacherous rocks known as the Skares on which many ships have foundered over the years. Legend has it that the ghosts of shipwrecked sailors emerge from their watery graves once a year.

The journey from Whinnyfold to the picturesque village of Collieston is considered a Site of Special Scientific Interest, notable for colonies of cliff nesting seabirds including kittiwake, guillemot, razorbill, fulmar and shag.

The earliest mention of Collieston in the history books goes back to the arrival of St Ternan who came to the area on a mission to convert Picts to Christianity.

Port Erroll at the north end of Cruden Bay

Photo by Paul Tomkins / VisitScotland

The current settlement was established as a fishing village sometime in the 15th century and flourished as such for more almost 400 years until the emergence of drift net fishing in the 19th century meant the harbour was no longer suitable for larger vessels.

However, the natural terrain dotted with numerous isolated coves and sea caves, made it an ideal location for smugglers. During the 18th century it is estimated that more than 8,000 gallons of illegal spirits were being landed in secret every month on this stretch of coastline alone.

Collieston remains a popular destination for tourists during the summer months as they are lured by the romantic reputation and spectacular beaches.

A little more than five miles from Collieston lies the village of Newburgh, which dates back to 1261.

In the 19th century Newburgh was a major sea port for sailing ships carrying cargoes of tea, coal and other commodities around the world. A number of the richer clipper captains built impressive homes in the village, many of which still carry names such as Shanghai house and Santa Cruz.

Just outside the village lies the remains of Knockhall Castle, a former home of Clan Udny, which was recently put up for sale for offers over £130,000.

Knockhall Castle

Photo by Anne Burgess CC BY-SA 3.0

It is believed to have been built for Henry, Master of Sinclair, the future 6th Lord Sinclair, in 1565 who's family had held the lands of Newburgh since 1261.

Historical records reveal Scotland’s King James VI, who was later to become King James I of England with the Union of the Crowns in 1603, paid a visit to the castle and stayed the night on 9th July 1589.

The castle remained in Sinclair hands until 1633 when it passed to the Udny family who lived in it until 1734.

The castle was also the home of Jamie Fleeman, better known as "the Laird of Udny's Fool”, the last person in Britain to be employed as a family jester.

As a member of the Laird’s household his pauper appearance enabled him to go where he pleased so was used by the Countess of Erroll to carry messages to Jacobite rebels.

Once, when stopped by a self-important gentleman who condescendingly asked "Whose fool are you?" Fleeman is supposed to have replied "I'm Udny's feel. Wha's feel are ye?”

In 1734, while staying with the Laird and his family at Knockhall Fleeman was roused by a barking dog. Discovering the castle on fire he woke everyone else by picking up a large oak chest, which usually required three men to lift it, and threw it through a window. His actions were credited with saving the lives of the family.

When Fleeman died in 1778 his last words "I'm a Christian, dinna bury me like a beast” were taken to heart and he was laid to rest at nearby Longside where a stone erected to mark his grave in 1861 can still be seen.