Archaeologists have unearthed compelling evidence suggesting a remote stone bothy in the Scottish Highlands served as a clandestine whisky distillery approximately two centuries ago. The discovery, made within the Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve (NNR), includes a fragment of a copper still, alongside a meticulously constructed hearth and clear signs of burning.
This find sheds light on a period when unlicensed private distillation was outlawed in the late 1780s, forcing distillers and smugglers to extraordinary lengths to evade detection by excise officers. Many relocated their illicit operations to secluded bothies in upland regions to avoid capture. The Ben Lawers NNR, which is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), is known to contain five such historical illicit whisky sites, highlighting a rich past of hidden enterprise.
Excavation Details
During the dig last month, the team of NTS archaeologists and volunteers also found a substantial stone-capped drain that ran beneath the internal floor, and a timber roof-support post, which appears to have been buried when the walls collapsed on top of it.
Derek Alexander, NTS head of archaeology, said: “This is a wonderful example of how archaeology can tell a gripping story of spirit smuggling that would otherwise have been lost to time. In the early 19th century, illicit whisky distilling in these hills became a real battle of wits between excise officers and distillers. To find the remains of stills in these upland areas, you need to think like an excise officer. Those who distilled spirit in this bothy will have picked the location carefully to make sure they were well hidden.”
Strategic Hiding Place
Alexander added: “This bothy is well concealed along one arm of the Lawers Burn, nestled in a burn gulley where there’s a slight bend in the burn to shield the site from both upstream and downstream. The people who distilled here knew what they were doing and it’s possible the still was never seized by the authorities. If the still had been found by the excise officers, the still would’ve been taken away and destroyed. So, the fact that we’ve found this connecting piece here suggests the still was dismantled in a hurry and its components whisked away by the smugglers as they dispersed. The connecting piece may have been forgotten in the rush and left behind.”
“Distillers of illicit whisky would’ve travelled light and left little trace of their activity, and so a find like this is especially rare and exciting. It gives us a glimpse into an activity that was once rife in the hills of Ben Lawers and which was seen by many as an act of community resistance.”
Historical Context
Experts said the bothy could have been in use anytime in the late 18th and early 19th centuries following the 1788 Excise Act. The piece of copper the team discovered is thought to have been used to connect the lyne arm and the head of the still. The site is one of the five known about at Ben Lawers but is the only one where a piece of copper still has been found. The dig was the latest in a series undertaken as part of The Pioneering Spirit project supported by The Glenlivet.
