Cruden Bay
Encyclopedia
Cruden Bay is a small village
in Scotland
, on the north coast of the Bay of Cruden in Aberdeenshire
, 26 miles north of Aberdeen
.
Just south of Slains Castle
, Cruden Bay was the site of a battle between Danes and Scots
under King Malcolm II
in 1012. Traditionally, the name was derived from the Gaelic
Croch Dain (Slaughter of Danes).
Today, Cruden Bay attracts tourists with its hotels and well-known golf
course. It has a long, unspoiled, beach made famous by Norwegian
aviator
Tryggve Gran
who made the first solo flight across the North Sea
.
Dr Samuel Johnson
and James Boswell
were guests at Slains Castle
in 1773. Johnson said that "no man can see with indifference" the sea chasm known as the Bullers of Buchan
, which is near the village.
Dun Bay, or Yellow Rock is also near the Bullers of Buchan
, and is associated with Walter Scott
's The Antiquary
.
Bram Stoker
holidayed first at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel and then at nearby Whinnyfold from 1894. Some believe Slains Castle inspired Dracula
, since Stoker was a regular guest at the Kilmarnock Arms, and Stoker’s novel The Mystery of the Sea and some short stories have Cruden Bay as their setting.
James Macpherson
's poem The Highlander (1758) takes the battle of Cruden as its model.
, a massive stone structure now surrounded by agricultural fields.
The nearby clifftop Slains Castle
was begun in 1597 and abandoned and unroofed for tax purposes in the 1920s. Bishop's Bridge spans Cruden Water and dates from 1697.
William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll
, established the fishing community of Port Erroll in the 1840s and 1850s. A functional harbour at the mouth of the Water of Cruden was added in the 1870s. Before that a tiny, now long-abandoned hamlet of rudimentary fisher cottages, simply known as Ward, stood exposed on top of Ward Hill, just above the harbour site. There was also a parish school since 1606, housed in the elegant two-storey Erroll Schoolhouse (now a B & B
) from 1834; the Presbyterian Church dedicated to Saint Olaf or commonly called the Old Kirk - built in 1776, with distinctive conical towers added in 1833; and Saint James
Episcopal Church
, notably the first structure designed by architect William Hay
on top of Chapel Hill in 1842.
Port Erroll developed as a fishing community to some extent, but the tidal nature of the harbour restricted the size of craft which could operate from it and the village missed out on the herring boom. However, tourism provided another source of income for the village. Even before the coming of the railway, the long pink curve of the Bay of Cruden sands and scenic cliffscapes to the north were attracting visitors and a small seaside resort was grafting itself onto the fishing community. The Cruden Bay Golfing Society, founded in 1791, played on the open links.
to Boddam
near Peterhead
was opened in 1897, along with the golf course and the 55-bedroom Cruden Bay Hotel two years later. A tramway was added linking the station and hotel. The Great North of Scotland Railway
Company promoted Cruden Bay as a Brighton
of the North, only twelve hours from London and an ideal escape for gentry and nouveau riche
. However, despite initial enthusiasm, neither railway nor hotel prospered. The railway was closed to passengers in 1932, and in 1939 the hotel was requisitioned as an army hospital, and never re-opened after the war. However, Cruden Bay remains a golfing destination, and the village still sustains three smaller hotels. Additionally, although both the harbour area and the local primary school are still styled "Port Errol", the railway adventure put the name Cruden Bay firmly on the map.
for the important settlements of Peterhead
to the north and Aberdeen
to the south. However, the eighteenth century timbered salmon station still operates, and some seasonal commercial fishing continues.
Cruden Bay is a nice place to live, with a medium sized primary school. Secondary
pupils are bussed to nearby Peterhead Academy. There are a few small shops - a chemist/newsagent, a post office/hardware, a craft shop and a general store. There is also a Chinese takeaway, a medical surgery and a library. There are also many sports facilities - tennis courts, and two football pitches. The school and public hall house a number of youth groups such as Girlguiding UK. There is a Congregational Church
in the village centre, and just outside of the village there is a Scottish Episcopalian Church and a Church of Scotland
parish. Cruden Bay is not far from the towns of Ellon
and Peterhead, and is approx 30 minutes drive from Aberdeen City.
Holiday makers are served by a number of hotels and bed and breakfasts.
The beach is extremely popular with visitors, as is the world famous golf course and Slains Castle.
to Port Errol, then onward by overland pipeline to Grangemouth
.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, on the north coast of the Bay of Cruden in Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
, 26 miles north of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
.
Just south of Slains Castle
Slains Castle
New Slains Castle is a ruined castle near Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 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...
, Cruden Bay was the site of a battle between Danes and Scots
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
under King Malcolm II
Malcolm II of Scotland
Máel Coluim mac Cináeda , was King of the Scots from 1005 until his death...
in 1012. Traditionally, the name was derived from the Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language
Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....
Croch Dain (Slaughter of Danes).
Today, Cruden Bay attracts tourists with its hotels and well-known golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
course. It has a long, unspoiled, beach made famous by Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
Tryggve Gran
Tryggve Gran
Jens Tryggve Herman Gran DSC, MC was a Norwegian aviator, explorer and author. He was the first pilot to cross the North Sea.-Background:...
who made the first solo flight across the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
.
Literary associations
The village has associations with various figures in literature.Dr Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
and James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
were guests at Slains Castle
Slains Castle
New Slains Castle is a ruined castle near Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 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...
in 1773. Johnson said that "no man can see with indifference" the sea chasm known as the Bullers of Buchan
Bullers of Buchan
The name Bullers of Buchan refers both to a collapsed sea cave and to the adjacent village, situated about south of Peterhead in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.- Cave :...
, which is near the village.
Dun Bay, or Yellow Rock is also near the Bullers of Buchan
Bullers of Buchan
The name Bullers of Buchan refers both to a collapsed sea cave and to the adjacent village, situated about south of Peterhead in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.- Cave :...
, and is associated with Walter Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
's The Antiquary
The Antiquary
The Antiquary is a novel by Sir Walter Scott about several characters including an antiquary: an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. Although he is the eponymous character, he is not necessarily the hero, as many of the characters around him undergo far...
.
Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker
Abraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
holidayed first at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel and then at nearby Whinnyfold from 1894. Some believe Slains Castle inspired Dracula
Dracula
Dracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
, since Stoker was a regular guest at the Kilmarnock Arms, and Stoker’s novel The Mystery of the Sea and some short stories have Cruden Bay as their setting.
James Macpherson
James Macpherson
James Macpherson was a Scottish writer, poet, literary collector and politician, known as the "translator" of the Ossian cycle of poems.-Early life:...
's poem The Highlander (1758) takes the battle of Cruden as its model.
Early area history
Earliest nearby human traces are evident in nearby Catto Long BarrowCatto Long Barrow
Catto Long Barrow is a prehistoric site in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site is known locally as Cairn Catto. The extant monument extends for a length of 49 metres.-References:* United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map 1:50,000 scale, Landranger series...
, a massive stone structure now surrounded by agricultural fields.
The nearby clifftop Slains Castle
Slains Castle
New Slains Castle is a ruined castle near Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 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...
was begun in 1597 and abandoned and unroofed for tax purposes in the 1920s. Bishop's Bridge spans Cruden Water and dates from 1697.
William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll
William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll
William George Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll KT, GCH, PC , styled Lord Hay between 1815 and 1819, was a Scottish peer and politician.-Background and education:...
, established the fishing community of Port Erroll in the 1840s and 1850s. A functional harbour at the mouth of the Water of Cruden was added in the 1870s. Before that a tiny, now long-abandoned hamlet of rudimentary fisher cottages, simply known as Ward, stood exposed on top of Ward Hill, just above the harbour site. There was also a parish school since 1606, housed in the elegant two-storey Erroll Schoolhouse (now a B & B
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
) from 1834; the Presbyterian Church dedicated to Saint Olaf or commonly called the Old Kirk - built in 1776, with distinctive conical towers added in 1833; and Saint James
Saint James
-Saints:*James the Just, considered the author of the Epistle of James in the New Testament, and the first bishop of Jerusalem*James, son of Zebedee, apostle, brother of John the Apostle, sometimes called "James the Great"...
Episcopal Church
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....
, notably the first structure designed by architect William Hay
William Hay (architect)
William Hay was a Scottish architect who was actively working internationally from 1842 to 1887. A specialist in gothic architecture, he is primarily known for his work on several churches and cathedrals. His most famous structure is the Bermuda Cathedral in Hamilton, Bermuda which he designed in...
on top of Chapel Hill in 1842.
Fishing community and seaside resort
The coming and going of the railway
The railway brought grandeur, but not lasting prosperity, to Cruden Bay. The branch line from EllonEllon, Aberdeenshire
Ellon is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north of Aberdeen, lying on the River Ythan which has one of the few undeveloped river estuaries on the Eastern coast of Scotland. It is in the ancient region of Formartine...
to Boddam
Boddam, Aberdeenshire
Boddam is a coastal village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is north of Aberdeen and south of Peterhead. Sea cliffs rise to , south of the village: a coastal path leads along these to the Bullers of Buchan....
near Peterhead
Peterhead
Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....
was opened in 1897, along with the golf course and the 55-bedroom Cruden Bay Hotel two years later. A tramway was added linking the station and hotel. The Great North of Scotland Railway
Great North of Scotland Railway
The Great North of Scotland Railway was one of the smaller Scottish railways before the grouping, operating in the far north-east of the country. It was formed in 1845 and received its Parliamentary approval on June 26, 1846, following over two years of local meetings...
Company promoted Cruden Bay as a Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
of the North, only twelve hours from London and an ideal escape for gentry and nouveau riche
Nouveau riche
The nouveau riche , or new money, comprise those who have acquired considerable wealth within their own generation...
. However, despite initial enthusiasm, neither railway nor hotel prospered. The railway was closed to passengers in 1932, and in 1939 the hotel was requisitioned as an army hospital, and never re-opened after the war. However, Cruden Bay remains a golfing destination, and the village still sustains three smaller hotels. Additionally, although both the harbour area and the local primary school are still styled "Port Errol", the railway adventure put the name Cruden Bay firmly on the map.
Cruden Bay today
The 1950s and 1960s was a period of rapid population decline for Cruden Bay, but the coming of North Sea oil to northeast Scotland, with its attendant jobs and families looking for places to settle, reinvigorated the village; thereafter, the population rose again with new housing added near the now-closed brickworks, the site of the demolished Cruden Bay Hotel and along the water of Cruden at Morrison Place. These days Cruden Bay serves mainly as a dormitory villageCommuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
for the important settlements of Peterhead
Peterhead
Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....
to the north and Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
to the south. However, the eighteenth century timbered salmon station still operates, and some seasonal commercial fishing continues.
Cruden Bay is a nice place to live, with a medium sized primary school. Secondary
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
pupils are bussed to nearby Peterhead Academy. There are a few small shops - a chemist/newsagent, a post office/hardware, a craft shop and a general store. There is also a Chinese takeaway, a medical surgery and a library. There are also many sports facilities - tennis courts, and two football pitches. The school and public hall house a number of youth groups such as Girlguiding UK. There is a Congregational Church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
in the village centre, and just outside of the village there is a Scottish Episcopalian Church and a Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
parish. Cruden Bay is not far from the towns of Ellon
Ellon, Aberdeenshire
Ellon is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north of Aberdeen, lying on the River Ythan which has one of the few undeveloped river estuaries on the Eastern coast of Scotland. It is in the ancient region of Formartine...
and Peterhead, and is approx 30 minutes drive from Aberdeen City.
Holiday makers are served by a number of hotels and bed and breakfasts.
The beach is extremely popular with visitors, as is the world famous golf course and Slains Castle.
Oil pipeline
Although there is little evidence of its presence other than a small complex a few miles south of the village, the sands at Cruden Bay is the place where the 110-mile long pipeline operated by British Petroleum, in use from 1975, finds landfall. It pumps crude oil from the Forties oilfieldForties oilfield
The Forties Oil Field is the largest oil field in the North Sea, 110 miles east of Aberdeen. It was discovered in 1970 and first produced oil in 1975 under ownership of BP.-History:...
to Port Errol, then onward by overland pipeline to Grangemouth
Grangemouth
Grangemouth is a town and former burgh in the council area of Falkirk, Scotland. The town lies in the Forth Valley, on the banks of the Firth of Forth, east of Falkirk, west of Bo'ness and south-east of Stirling. Grangemouth had a resident population of 17,906 according to the 2001...
.
Amenities
- Primary school with pre-school nursery
- Library
- Post office / General store
- Newsagent / General store
- Medical Practise
- Pharmacy
- Golf course
- Three hotels
- Public house
- Chinese take-away
- Gift shop