Qualla: New Slains Castle https://qualla.com/new-slains-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/w/new-slains-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: New Slains Castle https://qualla.com/new-slains-castle New Slains Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/new-slains-castle/ Photo credit Fred Coutts, CC BY 2.0. James Boswell could not sleep. The fire blazed, the North Sea roared against the cliffs below his window, and the pillows were stuffed with sea-fowl feathers that smelled disagreeable. Lying in his elegant room at Slains Castle in 1773, Boswell began to imagine the ghost of Lord Kilmarnock -- beheaded in 1746 -- might appear to him. The thought did not last long, and he fell asleep. What Boswell did not mention in his journal was that his host and the host's brother had fought on opposite sides at Culloden. This castle, perched on the cliffs east of Cruden Bay, has always attracted drama.

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Image: Fred Coutts | CC BY 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/w/new-slains-castle-wp/gfnw-new-slains-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full New Slains Castle: Built from Betrayal https://qualla.com/new-slains-castle/ Photo credit Knewtdotcom, CC BY-SA 4.0. The castle began as Bowness, constructed in the 1590s for Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll, after the original Slains Castle was destroyed on the orders of King James VI. Erroll's crime had been conspiring with Catholic nobles and signing the Spanish Blanks -- documents left for S...

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Image: Knewtdotcom | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/w/new-slains-castle-wp/gfnw-new-slains-castle-built-from-betrayal.mp3 0:06 2 full New Slains Castle: Nest of Jacobite Intrigue https://qualla.com/new-slains-castle/ Photo credit Mihael Grmek, CC BY-SA 3.0. Three successive Countesses of Erroll used New Slains as a base for Jacobite conspiracy. Lady Catherine Carnegie smuggled letters in and out of Edinburgh Castle during the 1689 siege, eventually escaping to France to serve as governess to the infant James Francis Edward Stuart. I...

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Image: Mihael Grmek | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/w/new-slains-castle-wp/gfnw-new-slains-castle-nest-of-jacobite-intrigue.mp3 0:06 3 full New Slains Castle: Stoker's Visual Palette https://qualla.com/new-slains-castle/ Photo credit Mikey Shepherd, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bram Stoker was a regular visitor to nearby Cruden Bay between 1892 and 1910, and the castle appears in two of his lesser-known novels. The connection to Dracula is more atmospheric than direct: the castle did not inspire the novel's plot, but it is feasible that the clifftop rui...

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Image: Mikey Shepherd | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/w/new-slains-castle-wp/gfnw-new-slains-castle-stokers-visual-palette.mp3 0:06 4 full New Slains Castle: From Prime Ministers to Demolition https://qualla.com/new-slains-castle/ Photo credit Stuart Smith, CC BY 3.0. Before its decline, New Slains hosted a remarkable guest list. Robert Baden-Powell rented it in 1900. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith stayed in 1903 and 1908, and Winston Churchill spent two nights as Asquith's guest. In 1820, the 18th Earl married the illegitimate daughter of King ...

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Image: Stuart Smith | CC BY 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/n/w/new-slains-castle-wp/gfnw-new-slains-castle-from-prime-ministers-to-demolition.mp3 0:06 5 full