Slains Castle
Scotland, United Kingdom · 57°24′47″N 1°50′10″W
A roofless 19th-century mansion on the Aberdeenshire cliffs, said to have given Bram Stoker the setting for Dracula, and left to the gulls since 1925.
New Slains Castle was rebuilt in 1837 as a granite baronial house for the Earls of Erroll on the edge of a 30 m cliff. The family sold it in 1916 and the roof was removed in 1925 to avoid tax; since then the shell has been open to the North Sea weather. Bram Stoker stayed at Cruden Bay in the 1890s and the castle's octagonal room is thought to appear in Dracula.
You can walk through every room. The cliffs beyond lead to the Bullers of Buchan, a collapsed sea cave.
Why it stays quiet
It is unsigned from the main road and the car park is a lay-by. Cruden Bay gets golfers; the cliff path gets dog walkers and few others.
Where it is
Before you go
The structure is unstable in places; stay off the upper walls. Cliffs are unfenced. Puffins at the Bullers of Buchan in early summer.
Updated 2026-09-06 · Suggest a correction
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