Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a secret whisky distilling operation in the Scottish Highlands, dating back around two centuries. The discovery was made in a stone bothy within the Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve (NNR), cared for by the National Trust for Scotland (NTS).
Discovery Details
During a dig last month, a team of NTS archaeologists and volunteers found a piece of a copper still, a well-constructed hearth, and signs of burning. They also uncovered a substantial stone-capped drain running beneath the bothy's internal floor and a timber roof-support post buried when the walls collapsed.
Historical Context
After unlicensed private distillation was outlawed in the late 1780s, distillers and smugglers went to great lengths to evade excise officers. Many moved operations to hidden bothies in upland areas. Ben Lawers NNR is known to have five such illicit whisky bothies.
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."
Location and Concealment
Alexander explained that the bothy was well concealed along one arm of the Lawers Burn, nestled in a gulley with a slight bend that shielded it from view. "The people who distilled here knew what they were doing and it’s possible the still was never seized by the authorities," he added.
The fact that the copper connecting piece was left behind suggests the still was dismantled hastily, with smugglers fleeing and forgetting the component. Alexander noted: "If the still had been found by the excise officers, it would’ve been taken away and destroyed."
Rarity and Significance
Distillers of illicit whisky traveled light and left little trace, making this find especially rare. "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," Alexander said.
Experts believe the bothy was in use in the late 18th or early 19th century following the 1788 Excise Act. The copper piece likely connected the lyne arm and the still head. This site is one of five known illicit bothies at Ben Lawers, but the only one where a copper still fragment has been found.
The dig was part of The Pioneering Spirit project supported by The Glenlivet.
