CRUDEN, village and parish on the east coast of Aberdeen shire, Scotland. Pop. It is situated at the head of Cruden bay, 29i m. N.N.E. of Aberdeen by the L.& N.E.R. branch line from Ellon to Boddam. There is a fine golf course, good bathing and a large hotel, connected with the railway by electric tramway. There is good fishing at Port Erroll, called Ward of Cruden, at the north end of the sands. Near Ardendraught, not far from the shore, Malcolm II. is said to have defeated Canute in 1014. The Water of Cruden, which rises a few miles to the west, flows through the village into the North Sea. Slains castle, a seat of the earl of Erroll, lies to the north of Cruden, but the old castle of Slains is about 5 m. to the south-west, near the point where, according to tradition, the "St. Catherine" of the Spanish Armada foundered in 1588.
