The Bloody Wine Tower

We enjoyed a day out in Fraserburgh today and eventually found ourselves at Kinnaird Head, the home of Scotland's first lighthouse. This is the mysterious 16th century Wine Tower situated on the cliff edge near to the light. As befits the oldest building in Fraserburgh, the Wine Tower is haunted.

Legend tells us that Isobel the daughter of Alexander Fraser (1536-1623) 8th Laird of Philorth had fallen in love with a servant piper, and that the laird was not happy about this. So to separate the two the laird had the piper tied-up in a cave, known as Selches Hole (Seals Hole), under the Wine Tower . The laird then locked-up his daughter in the uppermost floor of the tower and retired to Kinnaird Castle. Unfortunately for the servant there was an abnormally high tide due to a storm, and the poor man drowned. When Isobel the laird’s daughter was informed of her lover’s fate, she was distraught and committed suicide by jumping from the top of the tower onto the rocks below. It is said that Isobel is seen prior to bad weather, and that when the weather is particularly bad you can hear the skirl of the pipes, being played by the ghost of the piper, for his lost love.

When the keepers of the adjacent Kinnaird Lighthouse painted the light tower they traditionally threw red paint onto the rocks in memory of the unfortunate Isobel.