SC438558

Whisky still, Allt Connie, Mar Lodge Estate, Aberdeenshire
Illicit stilling of whisky was common in the Highlands until it was suppressed in the 1820s and legal whisky became cheaper. Stills were built in hidden places well away from settlements and close to a source of water.

This is a possible still, a D-shaped structure measuring 6m by 4.8m. It is situated in a narrow gully in the hillside, with a small burn, concealed from the valley. The concealed position, and the burn, would have made the site ideal to house a still.

Mar Lodge estate was part of the medieval Earldom of Mar. The Forest of Mar became a hunting reserve in medieval times and was revived as such in the 19th century, after a period of sheep-farming in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Glenlivet Distillery, Moray, was founded in 1824 by George Smith. As the first legal distillery in the Highlands, it was under constant threat for several years from local smugglers, whose business was badly hit by production from the new distillery. This photograph was taken in 1994.

Laphroaig Distillery, Islay, Argyll and Bute, photographed in 1999. The distillery is well known because it is one of only three to have retained traditional floor-malting and kilning technologies.

Machinery at Machrimore Mill, Kintyre, Argyll and Bute. Water-powered grain mills of this type were once a common sight in Scotland. This RCAHMS survey drawing was drawn in 1984.