Saturday 14 November 2015

Yet Another Illicit Whisky Distillery?

To the south of Loch Mudle, on the opposite side of the B8007, this waterfall on the Allt na Doire Buidhe - the burn of the yellow thicket or grove - has a stone structure which closely resembles those in the two previous sites which we've speculated were those of illicit whisky stills, one on the slopes of Ben Hiant (link here), the other on the Allt Rath a' Bheulain (link here).

It's difficult from old maps to work out whose still this was, though it seems most likely that it belonged to the inhabitants of Tornamona.

The site has almost all the requirements - it's remote, well hidden, and has water that can be led down ducts from the waterfall. What it doesn't have, today, is a ready supply of wood, but this could have been very different in the late 18th century when these stills were at their height. The name of the burn suggests there was woodland around.

2 comments:

  1. Jon, it seems you have a nose for such sites. Too much practice?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Perhaps - but I'm anxious to find them as I would like to reopen them. Jon

    ReplyDelete