Hidden whisky sites give link to the past

Archaeologists have discovered 30 sites used to produce illegal whisky in Aberdeenshire and Wester Ross.

The illicit stills found at Mar Lodge and Torridon are believed to be from the 19th Century. Researchers used old accounts of excisemen to find the sites which were well hidden.

The stills produced whisky for smuggling, selling and stocking unlicensed private houses, known as shebeens.

Derek Alexander, head archaeologist at the National Trust for Scotland, said: “Landscape is absolutely key to the illicit distilling process – it provides barley and water as ingredients, and peat and timber for fuel, stone and turf to construct bothies.

“But also the more broken-up and rugged the landscape the less easy it is to find where the bothies have been built and where equipment might be stored or hidden.”