Hidden Scotland
Sign in
The broken gable of Boddam Castle, a window open to the sky, on its rocky point above the sea.
Aberdeenshire

Boddam Castle and Stirling Hill

Cliff-tops, a castle ruin on a finger of rock, and the flooded quarries of the red Peterhead granite.

Welcome

This circular walk south of Peterhead takes in a castle ruin, cliff-tops and old granite quarries.

It starts at the ruins of Boddam Castle, a sixteenth-century seat of the Keiths of Ludquharn, standing on a narrow finger of rock over the sea, and follows the cliff-tops before turning inland and up Stirling Hill.

The hill is low but it was once the busiest of more than twenty granite quarries between Boddam and Cruden Bay. Its red Peterhead granite was prized as a decorative and monumental stone and was shipped all over the world. A railway once ran from here to Peterhead, carrying prison labour and stone for the great breakwaters of the Harbour of Refuge, begun in 1884.

Nature has long since healed the hill, and the old workings are now flooded quarries set in heather, still and surprisingly beautiful, with a wide view along the coast. The round is about 7.3km (4.5 miles) with 180 metres of climbing, and takes around three hours.

A short drive awayHarbour Dunes CaféA dog-friendly café above Port Erroll harbour, looking over the dunes and the bay.9 min by roadSee itTables on the terrace at Harbour Dunes looking over Port Erroll and the bay.
Before you go

A round of about 7.3km (4.5 miles) with 180 metres of climbing, some three hours, on cliff-top paths and tracks.

Distance
About 7.3km, 180m of climbing.
Time
About three hours.
Where it is

Boddam.

Close byAround Boddam.
  1. Buchan Ness LighthouseBuchan Ness LighthouseUnder a mile2 min by road
  2. A cell hall in Peterhead Prison, galleries rising to the roof above a table-tennis table.Peterhead Prison Museum3 miles5 min by road
  3. Bullers of BuchanBullers of Buchan3 miles6 min by road
  4. The bronze of Fisher Jessie with a child at her side on Marischal Street, Peterhead.Fisher JessieAndy Scott's bronze in Peterhead to the women of the fishing towns.4 miles7 min by road
  5. A wood-burning stove set into an old stone wall at the Kilmarnock Arms.The Kilmarnock Arms5 miles8 min by road
Directions
Tables on the terrace at Harbour Dunes looking over Port Erroll and the bay.CafeHarbour Dunes Café5.2 miles
Ruined castle on a cliff edge above the North Sea coastlineAttractionsNew Slains Castle5.4 miles
Aerial view of a coastal links golf course with rolling fairways and dunesAttractionsCruden Bay Golf Club5.7 miles
White lighthouse on a stone base rising from open seaAttractionsRattray Head11 miles
A tall old tree in full summer leaf in the woodland of Aden Country Park.WalksAden Country Park12 miles
Low dunes and a still pool on the Forvie reserve under a wide sky.WalksForvie National Nature Reserve13 miles
Hidden Scotland, the magazine

Scotland, in print.

Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.

Get Issue 13Read it here
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.