Description:

On the level plain skirting the bay, the final battle between Scots and Danes was fought in 1012. The Danes had established a foothold on the hill closest to the beach and King Sweyn Haraldsson sent his 17 year old son Canute, later the famed King of England, to reinforce this settlement. The battle was fought on the flatlands below Hacklaw, where the golf course now is, but as the day went on the fighting spread inland and relics of the battle have been found over a four mile swathe of countryside. Although victory went to the Scots Malcolm and Canute agreed a truce, the terms of which included the total withdrawal of Danish forces from Scotland. The "Bay of Ardendraught" now had a new name: Cruden Bay. Cruden stands for "Croij Dane", a phonetic rendering of the Scots Gaelic, which literally translates as "Die Dane!".