Findlater and the Castles of the Knuckle

Along the north-east coast of Buchan lie a string of castles, more than you were probably aware of: 

Findlater Castle, Boyne Castle, Banff Castle, Castle of Findon, Troup Castle, Dundarg, Pitsligo Castle, Pittulie Castle, Kinnaird Castle, Cairnbulg Castle, Inverallochy Castle, Lonmay Castle, Rattray Castle, Ravenscraig Castle (*not* the one in Kirkcaldy), Cheyne's Tower, Old Inverugie Castle, Boddam Castle, Slains Castle (new), Slains Castle (old).

It's quite a list! At its heart are the nine 'Castles of the Knuckle' described by historian W. Douglas Simpson, which would make a good day or two's tour.

Pitsligo Castle:
 

Most of these castles are fragmentary remains, though the likes of Pitsligo remains impressive, and Cairnbulg Castle is a substantial private home to a clan chief. Others such as Rattray no longer exist, just some bumps in the ground, and Old Inverugie is even more fragmentary - it has gone the way of Atlantis and succumbed to the sea. 

Pittulie Castle, courtesy of Neil Robertson @ Travels With a Kilt:

Of all these castles, probably only new Slains and increasingly, Findlater castle are known widely beyond the north-east. Why are they so little known? To my mind, the main reason for these castles' obscurity is the geographical nature of Scotland. Armies intent on travelling between Inverness and Aberdeen could easily bypass Buchan, and the region rarely had enough strategic importance in its own right to attract attention. As a result, there wasn't as much national history happening here. The one castle I was interested in seeing, Dundarg, notable for its prominent place in the Second War of Independence, is now a fragmentary ruin on a peninsula blocked from access by the private house that superseded it.   

So although I might sound curmudgeonly when talking about all the tourists at Slains Castle, I am actually heartened that these north-east fortresses are finally getting a bit of love. Even if, in the case of Slains, it is for a tenuous literary link rather than for historical reasons, and for Findlater, an even more recent reason: it was featured in the 2026 Hollywood film The Odyssey.

Findlater © Universal Pictures:
 

We decided to approach Findlater along the coast, as featured in Cameron McNeish's Scotland's 100 Best Walks. Cullen was soon left behind as we rounded rocky Logie Head, getting a wave from some belaying rock climbers testing themselves against this sheer peninsula, seabirds nesting right at the tip. We dived into a jungle of bracken, the dog leading the way, popping out at the lovely secluded beach of Sunnyside. The rocks here are knarled and twisted, marble bursting out the sand like the skeleton of some washed up sea creature. 

Sunnyside:

The path climbs steeply above Sunnyside to the clifftop and Findlater Castle, where we suddenly had company: the path from the car park to the castle is much shorter and more popular. There's not much to the castle, but it is a dramatic site and a good walk. This castle was the eyrie from which John Gordon sallied when he harassed Mary Queen of Scots on her tour of the north in 1562; by 1713 when its lord, the Earl of Seafield and Findlater, failed by four votes in the House of Lords to dissolve the union of Parliaments with England, it had been abandoned for decades.

Findlater Castle from above:
 

We could have carried on along the coast to Sandend, but turned back for Sunnyside and were immediately on our own again. A different path took us up through fertile corn fields perched right on the edge of the cliffs, with distant views of Caithness, and another ruin.

Logie House:

This route appears in Scotland's 100 Best Walks, but to be honest, there are a thousand walks of this quality you could do almost anywhere in Scotland. We are pretty lucky.