Whinnyfold is a cliff top hamlet of fisher cottages built in the 1860s, replacing an older settlement one mile inland. Whinnyfold has no harbour, and fisher folk had to scramble up and down a steep grass slope to access their boats and catches. Nevertheless, in the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century it was a thriving fishing community, supporting as many as 190 fishermen operating 24 boats and exporting fish as far afield as Manchester.
During the herring boom the fishers abandoned the village for the summer season, seeking more lucrative employment in Peterhead. Enterprisingly, those left behind temporarily converted a few of the cottages into a series of tearooms serving the moneyed holidaymakers visiting Cruden Bay. Among the visitors was Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, who eventually retired to the place. Near the village, just off the south end of the Cruden sands, lies the treacherous area of semi-submerged rocks known as the Skares, the site of many shipwrecks and source of local lore, and inspiration to Stoker’s novel The Mystery of the Sea.
