New Slains Castle, Aberdeenshire - 2010/03

[TheSurveyor]

New Slains Castle is a ruined castle near Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire, overlooking the North Sea.

The remains stand perched atop tall, sea-facing cliffs, constructed around an existing tower house built in 1597 by the 9th Earl of Erroll. Significant reconstruction of the castle has been carried out a number of times, lastly in 1837. It was altered in 1664 when a corridor was inserted within the courtyard and again in 1836 it was rebuilt and faced with granite. At one time it had three extensive gardens.

Bram Stoker was staying in a local hotel in Cruden Bay when he heard of Slains Castle - which he saw as 'the castle of the dead'. It may have helped to inspire his writing of the novel, Dracula.



The castle was sold in 1916 and fell into disrepair in the first quarter of the 20th century, after more than 300 years of occupation by the Errolls. The castle was bought by Sir John Ellerman of the shipping line. He in turn gave it up in 1925 and its roof was removed to avoid paying taxes. That led to the inevitable ruin seen today.

In October 2007, it was announced that the ruins of New Slains Castle were to be converted into holiday homes by the Slains Partnership, but the development was subsequently delayed.
Photos below were taken May 2009.

Full Facade:


A Road To Ruin:


Living On The Edge:


Internal Shadows:


Room With A Sea View Sir?


Towering Ruin:

[ceejam]

nice place, well reported too

[evilnoodle]

This is lovely.........castles are wonderful

[superkev]

Lovely looking ruin. very scenic! Nice pics

[boxfrenzy]

This place looks a great place to visit. I like it a lot.

[TheSurveyor]

there was big debate about restoring it - locals want it to remain a ruin, developer wants it to be a hotel - it got planning permission but current economic climate has caused it to stall.

[wurzel]

nice one mate

[TheSurveyor]

thanks - had a load of explore photos from over the years but lost most of them when laptop died without a backup.

hope this place does get turned into a hotel as the construction works in progress would make good photos!

[ZombieSazza]

I love this place, the last time I was there I was 13 and I had purple hair (I kid you not, I have pictures somewhere). Nicely reported, TS. Loving this one

[TheSurveyor]

Nicely reported, TS. Loving this one

still not getting your tripod back until the weekend