The ruined remains of Old Slains Castle lie on a rocky headland a few miles north of Collieston. A small part of an oblong keep survives, which once rose to five storeys. This had been built in the mid-fifteenth century inside an earlier structure, dating from the 13th century, which comprised an extensive courtyard surrounded by ditches.

Built from the dark limestone rock that was quarried in Collieston, the castle is of mixed rubble and faced stone construction and the walls are two metres thick. Originally the property of the Comyn Earls of Buchan, King Robert the Bruce of Scots (1306-1329) gave the lands of Slains in Buchan to Sir Gilbert Hay, 5th Baron of Erroll, in recognition of his loyal service during the 'Wars of Independence' against the English. Sir Gilbert and his descendants lived in the original Slains Castle until 1594 when the castle was destroyed with gunpowder and cannon by King James VI of Scots (1567 - 1603) in retribution for the involvement of Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll, in the Roman Catholic/Spanish plot, known as the 'Treaty of the Spanish Blanks'.

Francis fled into exile. Upon his return a few years later, instead of trying to rebuild the ruined Slains Castle, he opted to build a new one at Cruden Bay and incorporated the 16th century stone tower house of Bowness in the construction of a courtyard castle which he named New Slains Castle.

It is not known whether the land around Old Slains Castle had been inhabited prior to the castle’s destruction or if people had simply moved in to the area and taken the opportunity to build houses using stones from the ruined building, but it is recorded in the Statistical Account of 1793 that the village of Oldcastle had grown up around the ruins of Old Slains Castle and that the inhabitants made their living by fishing.

The villagers obviously managed to keep their other lucrative trade a secret, as there is no mention of ‘smuggling’ in the Statistical Account. Due to their isolation, the inlets in the Slains area were very popular with the smuggling fraternity and Oldcastle’s last known smuggler, Peter Cormack, is believed to have frequently hidden his caches in the dungeon of the old castle, entering by way of a secret hole in the rocks at the Blinman.

Due to a concerted effort by exciseman Malcolm Gillespie, the smuggling trade was more or less wiped out in Slains by the early 1800s but the villagers of Oldcastle still managed to make a good living from fishing. The Statistical Account of 1843 states that there were 14 houses in Oldcastle with 48 inhabitants:

‘…chiefly employed and wholly dependent upon white-fishing and realize an excellent livelihood from their laborious and very dangerous avocation. They are superior to other working tradesmen in the property which they possess, never interfere in the politics of the day, and are most regular attendants on the public ordinances of religion.’

However, by the beginning of the 20th Century, the fishing industry in the small villages of the north-east coast was in decline.  The situation in Oldcastle was no different and by this time many of the families had already left the village and moved to Aberdeen.  For the remaining few families the final straw came in March 1900 when a fierce storm, with gale force winds and mountainous seas, destroyed their fishing boats and equipment to such an extent that they too decided that it was time to leave Oldcastle and move to Aberdeen.

The photo was probably taken in the early years of the 20th Century.

The Fishery Board for Scotland Annual Reports, which began circa 1882, have records of the number of boats and fishermen at Old Castle and Collieston. They also have some records of the weight and value of fish caught at Old Castle and Collieston.

From the Peterhead ‘Sentinel’, 29 September 1875:  ‘The herring boats belonging to the Old Castle village have now returned from Peterhead, after having completed their time and made a highly successful fishing. Three boats left the village in July last, two of them being new and furnished with decks and the newest appliances for prosecuting their perilous calling. They averaged 237crans, the best-fished boat having 272crans, and the lowest 180. In proof of the fishermen's unflinching energy and intelligent forethought, they have already made arrangements for obtaining a new decked boat, which when fully equipped for sea, will cost about £200. Twenty-one boats prosecuted the fishing at Peterhead from the village of Collieston, but they have not been so successful as their neighbours at the Old Castle. The highest catch during the season for one boat was 260crans, and the lowest 60, while the twenty-one boats averaged 150, which is deemed a moderate fishing.’ 

The line fishermen complained for years of trawlers coming within a three-mile limit and damaging their fishing. On 25th April 1896, a trawler was seen fishing about a mile of the coast after 10pm. Four boats, one with nine men in it, rowed out from Collieston to a confrontation with the trawler crew. The trawler captain was later fined £50 in court at Aberdeen; he had been in court five times the previous year. One of the men who had rowed out from Collieston was called Alexander Ritchie. In 1899, Alexander Ritchie represented Collieston in a delegation of North-east fishermen that went to meet Lord Salisbury to discuss the state of the fishing industry. One of the three men drowned when the Collieston yawl, Vigilant, capsized on 26th January 1900, was called Alexander Ritchie.   Most of the people who lived at the Old Castle were called Phillips. During the storm of 15 February 1900, two boats were broken up at Old Castle and one boat was broken up and another one damaged at Collieston.  All of the boats were owned by J. Phillips, Old Castle. There are several reports in Peterhead and Aberdeen newspapers about the migration of fishermen and their families from Slains. 62 people left Old Castle in March 1900, all with a surname Phillips or Milne. It is reported that almost 100 people had already left Collieston that winter. The local MP spoke about the migration in the House of Commons.  Thanks to Charles Esson for the above information.

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