The Story So Far...
The Story So Far…
Cruden Bay is fortunate to have dedicated local historians and authors who have documented our village’s rich heritage in deep detail—and if you’re looking for comprehensive historical accounts, their research and books are second to none.
Our focus on crudenbay.life is a little different. As we showcase the vibrant places, events, and attractions that make our village special today, the past naturally weaves its way into the narrative. Over time, we’ve shared these local moments as short, readable tales scattered across the site.
We’ve curated them all here into a single, easy-to-browse collection—a casual storytelling companion to the village, designed for locals and visitors alike to enjoy a good yarn about the place we call home.
Badminton Club circa 1970’s
Alan Croxford I spotted this old photo on Cruden Bay Bowling Club page. It is of Badminton Players probably in the 1970s, with a number of Cruden Bay residents in the photo. What was the occaision and can you spot the Cruden Bay residents? Shirley TaylorColin Mckeay...
CRUDEN BAY BOASTS AN “OCTOGENARIAN STREET”
April 4, 1940 ABERDEEN BON-ACCORD AND NORTHERNCRUDEN BAY BOASTS AN “OCTOGENARIAN STREET”Top—Green Street, Cruden Bay, which might be aptly re-named "Octogenarian Street." Right—Mrs John Summers is going to give her youngest grandchild a sweet out of the bottle she has...
Countess of Erroll’s House with Old Castle Slains
Alan Croxford This is the Countess of Erroll's House with Old Castle Slains in the background. As most of you will know this is located near Collieston. I understand it was constructed in the early 1960s and George Smart my old Technical Teacher at Peterhead Academy...
GNSR Hotel Staff
Alan Croxford This is the Cruden Bay GNSR Hotel in the background with what I assume is the Male Waiting and other Staff posing for their photo. FaceBook link
Norwegian Troops 1941
Alan Croxford Today we have two photos of Norwegian troops that were for sale on ebay. They show the troops training on Cruden Bay Beach. The year was 1941 which of course was the early part of WWII. The troops were stationed at the former LNER Hotel at the Golf...
Cruden Bay WRI
Bill Phillips There was a post on here a few days ago of a WRI badge, I believe this is a photo of the Cruden WRI, I recognise Gina Robertson, Mrs Coutts, Mrs Daniel and Mrs MacIntosh. Some of you may recognise others. Caroline Williams Which one is Mrs Daniel? Peter...
Port Erroll Police Station
Alan Croxford Obviously Port Erroll had a Police Station prior to the one opposite St Olaf. 1st photo, This is an advert for Tenders regarding work on plans for the New Police Station which could be seen at Police Station, Port Erroll. Does anyone know where the Old...
Mission Hall and Railway Carriage
Alan Croxford Elizabeth Oates Tells me The Mission Hall at Port Erroll has had a sympathetic restoration of its exterior and the internal restoration is ongoing. It will eventually house the Village Archive. Here is a photo from the 1960s when the Morrice Family had...
Port Erroll School – circa 1960
Alan Croxford This is a photo from Port Erroll School. The only person I recognise is the Treacher George Cruikshank. Can anyone put names to faces of the Pupils and identify the year? Kathy Clark Adrian Smith, Gordon Chegwyn, Sandy Wadden, Bowman? , Yan Stringer,...
New Slains Castle Notice Board
There are two Slains Castles. The first Slains Castle was a tower built in the c. 15th century, six miles southwest from here. It was blown up in 1594 on the orders of King James VI, after its resident, Francis Hay, the 9th Earl of Erroll, had taken part in a failed...
Dardanelles Sign #2
THE FIRST CROSSING OF THE NORTH SEA BY AIROn July 30ᵗʰ 1914, Tryggve Gran (1888 – 1980) piloting a Blériot monoplane took off at 8 a.m. from a field near the Cruden Bay Hotel. His aim: to make the first aircraft crossing of the North Sea. The flight was dramatic from...
Dardanelles Sign #1
Tryggve Gran Torsdag 30.juli i 1914 blei Tryggve Gran (1889-1980) den første til å fly over Nordsjøen. Han brukte 4 timar og 10 minutt på ferda frå Cruden Bay i Skottland til Maleneset ved Orrevatnet. Nordsjøflyginga var ei bragd på line med Louis Blériot si flyging...
Ward Hill Notice Board
Ward Hill On top of Ward Hill, you will see some old structures. These are a cold war era nuclear monitoring post and the remains of a WW2 LORAN station. Above the harbour is a network of wartime trenches.Port Erroll U.K.W.M.O. Post1959–1991 In 1957, the United...
Harbour Sign #2
Fishermen gather outside the salmon bothy. Hooped barrels were used as buoys to keep the salmon nets afloat when set at the harbour entrance.A fisherman of Port Erroll baits a ‘sma lin’ for his next venture to sea. ‘Small line’ fishing utilised a line, several hundred...
Harbour Sign #1
As far back as the mid 1600's there have been fishermen living and working out of Invercruden, the historic hamlet located in the valley between Slains Castle and Ward Hill. However, it was not until between 1875 and 1880 that the current harbour, built under the...
Wishing Stones
Alan Croxford Does anyone possess a wishing rock or stone? There was one at Slains Castle in the days of The Earl of Erroll. At the Castle's deplenish sale the stone was bought by James Cruickshank owner of the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel, Cruden Bay. FaceBook link
Quintin Murray’s Caravan at Slains Castle
Alan Croxford This postcard of Slains Castle is from the 1960s. I know the date because Quintin Murray, one of the Business Men who bought and saved the Golf Course in the early 1950s, had a Caravan on the headland, seen to the right of the Castle. The Caravan which...
Future Of Slains Castle – 1925
Alan Croxford Slains Castle was purchased by Dundee Demolition Contractor Charles Brand in 1925. This Dundee Courier Newspaper article from 17/04/1925 suggests that there was still a chance that Slains Castle could be saved, even if on a reduced scale. Unfortunately...
The National – Article 28th March 2022
TRAVEL Slain's Castle: Exploring the Scottish inspiration for Dracula | Slains Castle By Robin McKelvieTravel writer @robinmckelvie THE ideas had long been brewing in Bram Stoker’s imagination but it was in Scotland that Dracula raged into the world,” explains Mike...
BBC Article November 2017
The Scottish fishing village that brought Dracula to life Magnus Bennett BBC Scotland News Many of us like nothing more than getting our teeth into a great novel. But in the case of Irish author Bram Stoker, it was to lead to one of fiction's most enduring characters...
A Familiar Sound Rings Out After 30 Years
30th March 2003 AT the beginning of March, what had been a familiar sound in Port Erroll on Sunday mornings was heard again for the first time in almost 30 years.The Cruden Bay Congregational Church bell has been restored and is once again ringing again to summon...
95 Not Out! Gordon trenches veteran heads for century
By ALISTAIR BEATON 8th May 1990John Brown, photographed in his Cruden Bay allotment as he approached his 96th birthday. A Gordon Highlander veteran of the First World War, he remained active in the garden every day, believing that fresh air, exercise and home-grown...
A Treasure Trove of North East History
A VERITABLE treasure trove of old photographs and documents showing life at Cruden Bay earlier this century has recently been uncovered. Hundreds of photographs, newspaper cuttings, postcards, post office records and old letters provide a unique glimpse into the...
BUCHAN’S TV FISHERMAN
Mr William Tait—his retort to Gilbert Harding startled the television studio audience.Cruden Bay Champion With a Shock for 'Delicate' Englishmen — By — DOUGLAS RAE THERE is an air of sadness about the little port of Cruden Bay. Looking down from the lip of a cliff you...
MBE for 25 years of dedicated service – Arthur Geddes
EX-fisherman Arthur Geddes didn't want to sever his links with the sea when he decided to look for a job ashore. So joining HM Coastguard was the perfect solution for him. And he has been rewarded for over a quarter of a century's dedication to the service by being...
Bowling Club Prize Giving from 1970’s
Alan Croxford A Cruden Bay Bowling Club Prize giving. How many can you name in this Photo thought to be from the 1970s. Richard Clark Back far right Jimmy Mathers,Stuart Mundie to his right,Second from left Johnny Aird 4 from left Jimmy Love next to Jimmy a young...
Crosse & Blackwells – Poster
Alan Croxford I like this old fashioned advert for Crosse & Blackwells. My Dad Denis Croxford was a Transport Manager for the Firm in Peterhead from 1963 to 1987. My Step Mother Isobel Coutts was also one of the Industrial Nurses at the Factory. She left Crosse...
Sleeves Up At Cruden Bay
Mr Taylor (left) with some of his helpers (right) The house built by Mr Taylor in NigeriaAT the moment there's great activity going on, on the piece of land behind the Congregational Church at Cruden Bay. The reason — the Congregation are building themselves a church...
Cruden Bay Playing Cards
Alan Croxford Back in the days when the LNER owned the Cruden Bay Hotel, Cruden Bay apeared on sets of playing cards in the Beautiful Britain series. I remember back in the 1960s /1970s my parents Charlotte and Denis were in the Cruden Bay Whist Club. They stored the...
Old Co-op
Community spirit rises to meet Mr and Mrs Dawson CRUDEN BAY says tangible thanks to SCWS manager and his wife—Mr and Mrs Alfred Dawson, who are leaving for Aboyne—with a refrigerator and box of chocolates—with Mr Witham Burns doing the honours on behalf of the...
CRUDEN BAY FIRE – 21 HOMELESS
ALL THAT REMAINS OF FIVE FAMILIES’ POSSESSIONS Bedding, clothing, and furniture strewn over the braeside in the sunshine – the scene during yesterday’s fire at Cruden Bay, in which five families lost their homes. CRUDEN BAY FIRE – 21 HOMELESSFALLING SLATE STRIKES...
Prefabs
Bill Philips The occupants of Castle Road (Prefabs) in the early 1950s FaceBook link Cruden Bay Life Prefabricated Housing on Castle Road, Cruden Bay Post-war housing, local change, and what we actually know In the years following the Second World War, communities...
The 2 Cruden Bay Trams
CRUDEN BAY HOTEL To link hotel and station at Cruden Bay the Great North built and operated a short narrow gauge (3' 6½") electric tramway—a venture unique among Scottish railways. Two single-deck, four-wheeled tramcars worked the system along with several goods...
HMS Enchantress at Cruden Bay
Here we have HMS Enchantress at Cruden Bay. It is the Admiralty Yacht used by Winston Churchill, when he was First Lord Of The Admiralty. He liked sailing about on it, basically sight seeing when not on official business. He also often invited Prime Minister Herbert...
Edgars reaches the grand old age of 65 (1938 – 2003)
EDGARS in Cruden Bay reaches the ripe old age of 65 on Sunday. Current owner Aileen Ritchie and her husband Colin have absolutely no plans of retiring the ever-popular village shop - despite it reaching that age. But they took a trip down memory lane and came up with...
ABERDEEN PRESS AND JOURNAL, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1934
Members of the Agricultural Section of the British Association at the farm of the Misses Cruickshank, Cruden Bay. The party also visited Tillycairn and Collynie farms (Mr Duthie Webster) and Grandhome (Mr J. D. Paton). In the group are Lord Raglan, Dr Crowther, Mr...
Golfing Weekend – 1932
Elizabeth Oates Looking back at prices for a Golfing weekend in Cruden Bay 1932. Including a car to and from the station. FaceBook link42 A GOLFING WEEK-END AT CRUDEN BAY DURING MAY & JUNE including : FIRST OR THIRD CLASS RAIL TRAVEL FULL BOARD AT L.N.E.R. CRUDEN...
The Spark That Ended an Era: The Cruden Bay Station Fire
Fire at Cruden Bay station Following on from our recent old photograph of Cruden Bay station, Mr Alan Middleton, Roselea, Bridge Street, Cruden Bay, handed in this photograph of the fire at the station, taken around 1930. The fire was believed to have been started by...
BULLERS OF BUCHAN TRAGEDY
Gordon Findlay has kindly provided a copy of The Evening Gazette, published in Aberdeen on Friday, January 19th, 1912 (cost one halfpenny). It features the following graphic account of the loss of the Wistow Hall and its crew on page 5 of this broadsheet publication,...
THE REGISTER. ADELAIDE. SATURDAY JANUARY 20 1912
Image created for creatative purposes by Cruden Bay Life An article from THE REGISTER, a newspaper published in Adelaide, Australia, on Saturday, 20th January 1912. WRECK OF WISTOW HALLTERRIBLE EXPERIENCES Further particulars have been received concerning the wreck of...
Accident Inquiry Report – Wistow Hall (SS)
(No. 7535.) “WISTOW HALL” (S.S.). The Merchant Shipping Act, 1894. In the matter of a Formal Investigation held at Liverpool on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 14th days of May, 1912, before STUART DEACON, Esquire, Stipendiary Magistrate, assisted by Vice-Admiral JOHN...
An Account of the Wistow Hall Shipwreck
Image created for creatative purposes by Cruden Bay Life Wistow Hall The Buchan coast between Slains Castle and Buchanness, with its towering cliffs and jagged rocks has always been an area dreaded by shipping in winter, particularly before the invention of wireless...
MYSTERY OF ABERDEEN STEAMER
Image created for creatative purposes by Cruden Bay Life Aberdeen Daily Journal of 19th January 1912: FREDERICK SNOWDON'S FATEFEARED LOSS WITH ALL HANDSWRECKAGE FOUND AT PETERHEAD The finding in Peterhead Harbour yesterday afternoon of a board bearing the name...
THE FREDERICK SNOWDON DISASTER
Image created for creatative purposes by Cruden Bay Life Dundee Evening Telegraph 2 February 1912: THE FREDERICK SNOWDON DISASTER. Another Body Washed Ashore. Still another body, supposed to be one of the victims of the Frederick Snowdon, was washed ashore at Sandford...
THE FREDERICK SNOWDON DISASTER. FUNERAL OF VICTIM.
Aberdeen Daily Journal 5th February 1912: THE FREDERICK SNOWDON DISASTER. FUNERAL OF VICTIM. The funeral of Charles Davidson, one of the unfortunate seamen off the Frederick Snowdon, took place from Peterhead mortuary to the railway station, en route for Aberdeen, on...
The Star of the Isles – Shipwreck
The Scaurs at the Whinnyfold end of Cruden Bay Beach have claimed many Ships and Boats in the past. Here is one such casualty on 18/01/1907, The Star of the Isles. The Crew were saved. At the time of loss it was valued at £5500 but it was only insured for £4800. The...
Josslyn Victor Hay (1901-1941)
Josslyn Victor Hay: The Exiled Earl The Architect of an African Babylon Josslyn Victor Hay, the 22nd Earl of Erroll, stands in the shadow of history not merely as the victim of a sensational, unsolved murder, but as a chilling avatar of the post-war aristocratic...
THE PINKY BRAES O’ NETHERMILL
Alan Croxford This poem about Nethermill is another from Sylvia Munro's book Lilts Frae Cruden Bay by James Ogston, published in 1911. FaceBook linkTHE PINKY BRAES O’ NETHERMILL.In leafy June when fields were gayI took a dander up the glen,Then crossed the bridge and...
Whinnyfold (poem)
Alan Croxford A poem by James Ogston about Whinneyfold, it mentions the shipwreck of the Xenia on the Scaurs in Feb 1903. Taken from Sylvia Munro's book Lilts Frae Cruden Bay. FaceBook linkWHINNYFOLD.Come a’ ye sturdy fisher chiels,And sonsie fishwives wi’ yer...
The Railway Rolls Royce
The Railway Station at Cruden Bay ceased its Passenger Service in 1932, the Tram was then only used for the Laundry. To continue a way of passengers getting from Aberdeen to The Cruden Bay Hotel this Rolls Royce was used by LNER to transport passengers back and forth...