Blethering Skite

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.