Cite this as: Bratt, D.D.M. and Bye-Jensen, P. 2023 A Quick Buck: an Early Licensed Whisky Distillery at Blackmiddens Farm in the Cabrach, Internet Archaeology 61. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.61.3
Blackmiddens Farm distillery, also known as Buck distillery, has recently been the focus of historical research and excavation. At the time of the first season of fieldwork Blackmiddens/Buck was the only farm distillery to have been excavated in the Highlands and Islands. The site represents a short-lived period of distilling in the Scottish Highlands in which whisky-making operated in a legitimate commercial capacity but as a complement to a larger agricultural unit. The excavation of Blackmiddens and historical research into it and the distilleries in the surrounding area have given us an insight into this short but vital transitional phase in the history of whisky-making in the region.
Corresponding author: Darroch D.M. Bratt
darroch.bratt@uhi.ac.uk
University of the Highlands and Islands
Peter Bye-Jensen
VejleMuseerne, Denmark
Figure 1: Blackmiddens distillery under excavation in 2021. Image: Peter Bye-Jensen
Figure 2: Map showing the location of the Cabrach relative to the Highland line. Background mapping: GB Overview [TIFF geospatial data], Scale 1:5000000, Tiles: GB, Updated: 19 August 2013, Ordnance Survey (GB), Using: EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service (Downloaded: January 2022)
Figure 3: Blackmiddens during excavation from the south (2021). The distillery is in the foreground with the farmstead in the background. A ditch to the north-west of the distillery was thought to be a potential water source but on excavation no ingress was identified. Image: Peter Bye-Jensen
Figure 4: The development of Laphroaig distillery over the 19th century (Hay and Stell 1986, 35). Only the first phase depicted by Hay and Stell would apply to Blackmiddens, without the ancillary processes such as cooperage and malting being carried out on site. Image: © Historic Environment Scotland.
Figure 5: Plan of Blackmiddens farm showing the distillery building. North to the top of the image. Crown copyright. National Records of Scotland, RHP2265
Figure 6: Plan of Blackmiddens Farm by Historic Environment Scotland. Image: © Historic Environment Scotland.
Figure 7: Still from Photogrammetry model of Blackmiddens/Buck created 2021. Image: Peter Bye-Jensen.
Figure 8: Detail of drain looking north from Area 5. Image: Ali Cameron 2019
Figure 9: Earthenware sherds recovered from Area 5. Image: Ali Cameron 2019
Figure 10: Small finds from Area 5. From left to right, a fragment of earthenware, a clay pipe and a fragment of iron barrel band. Image: Darroch Bratt
Figure 11: Areas 2, 3 and 5 at the end of the first season of excavation, before Area 4 was exposed in the second. Image: Ali Cameron 2019
Figure 12: Aerial view of Blackmiddens 2021. Image: Peter Bye-Jensen, annotations by Darroch Bratt
Aberdeen Press and Journal, 3/1/1827, 'Buck Distillery', page 2 [online] https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000031/18270103/005/0002
Atkinson, J., Becket A. and Shearer, I. 2010 'Annadale DSR, Project 3021', Unpublished report, Glasgow: Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division.
Barnard, A. 1887 The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom, Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company.
Brown, D. 2000 'The politicians, the revenue men and the Scotch Distillers, 1780-1800' in Review of Scottish Culture 12, 46-58.
Cameron, A. 2019 'Blackmiddens Data Structure Report', Unpublished report, Cameron Archaeology.
Crew, P. 2004 'Perforated tiles from grain driers and malt kilns', British Brick Society Information 95, 4-12. http://britishbricksoc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/BBS_95_2004_Nov_.pdf [Last accessed: 29 January 2023].
Devine, T. 1975 'The rise and fall of illicit whisky making in Northern Scotland, c 1780-1840', The Scottish Historical Review 54(158), 155-77.
Devine, T. 1994 Clanship to Crofter's War: the Transformation of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Dietz, V. 1997 'The politics of whisky: Scottish Distillers, the Excise and the Pittite State', Journal of British Studies, 36(1), 35-69. https://doi.org/10.1086/386127
Dodghson, R.A. 2015 No Stone Unturned, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
German, K. and Adamson, G. 2017 The History of Distilling in Cabrach, Report for the Cabrach Trust.
German, K. and Adamson, G. 2019 'Distilling in the Cabrach, c. 1800-1850: the illicit origins of the Scotch Whisky Industry', Journal of Scottish Historical Studies 39(2), 146-65. https://doi.org/10.3366/jshs.2019.0274
Given, M. 2004 'Landscapes of resistance' in M. Given (ed) Archaeology of the Colonized, London: Routledge. 138-61. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203644188
Given, M. 2007 'Whisky and resistance: the archaeology of illicit distilling', Historic Argyll 12, 11-17.
Gordon, J. (ed) 1845 The New Statistical Account of Scotland by the ministers of the respective parishes, under the superintendence of a committee of the Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy, Moulin, Perth, Vol. 10, Edinburgh: Blackwoods and Sons. 658. https://stataccscot.edina.ac.uk:443/link/nsa-vol10-p658-parish-perth-moulin.
Grant, E. 1992 Memoirs of a Highland Lady, Edinburgh: Canongate.
Hay, G.D. and Stell, G.P. 1986 Monuments of Industry, Edinburgh: HMSO.
Heawood, R. 2009 'Excavations at Lochrin Distillery, Edinburgh', Industrial Archaeology Review 31(1), 34-53. https://doi.org/10.1179/174581909X424763
Hoffman, A. 2015 'Review of The Temperance Movement in Aberdeen, Scotland, 1830–1845: Distilled Death and Liquid Damnation', Northern Scotland 6(1), 116-19. https://doi.org/10.3366/nor.2015.0097
Mackie, W. and Stevenson, D. (eds) 1991 The Diary of a Canny Man, 1818-28. Adam Mackie, Farmer, Merchant and Innkeeper in Fyvie, Aberdeen: University Press.
Maclean, C. and MacCannell, D. (eds) 2017 Scotland's Secret History: The Illicit Distilling and Smuggling of Whisky, Edinburgh: Berlinn.
Martin, M. 1703 A Description of the Western Isles of Scotland. London: Andrew Bell. https://www.electricscotland.com/books/pdf/martin.htm
Moss, M.S. and Hume, J.R. 1981 The Making of Scotch Whisky: a History of the Scotch Whisky Distilling Industry, Balerno: James and James.
National Records of Scotland, E581/4/50, Distillery Discharge vouchers: Elgin collection: Huntly: rounds 1-2 1826-1827.
National Records of Scotland, RHP 2265–1827, Plan of Blackmiddens Farm.
Ordnance Survey 1872 Banffshire, sheet XXXV.
Parliamentary Papers 1823a 'Fifth Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the Collection and Management of the Revenue Arising in Ireland & C. Distilleries'
Parliamentary Papers 1823b '[Excise Act] Bill to reduce duties on spirits distilled from corn or grain in Scotland and Ireland, and on licenses for stills; and for warehousing of spirits without payment of duty (as amended by committee, and with amended clause B)'.
Parliamentary Papers 1835 'Seventh Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the Excise Establishment and into the management and collection of the excise revenue throughout the United Kingdom', British Spirits part II, House of Commons Parliamentary Papers.
Parliamentary Papers 1851 'MacNeill Report into the state of the Highlands and Islands'.
Sherriff, J. 2020 Blackmiddens, Rhynie, Aberdeenshire: A measured survey of a 19th century farmstead and distillery, Edinburgh: HES. https://canmore.org.uk/collection/2169314 [Last accessed: 4 March 2022].
Stewart, M. 2020 A Documentary History of Blackmiddens Farm, Aberdeenshire, Report for the Cabrach Trust.
Suddaby, I. nd. Seed Pan/Malt Kiln Tile, Scotland's Brick and Tile Manufacturing History [website], https://www.scottishbrickhistory.co.uk/seed-pan-malt-kiln-tile/ [Last accessed: 21 January 2023].
Tarlow, S. 2007 The Archaeology of Improvement in Britain, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499708
Internet Archaeology is an open access journal based in the Department of Archaeology, University of York. Except where otherwise noted, content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 (CC BY) Unported licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that attribution to the author(s), the title of the work, the Internet Archaeology journal and the relevant URL/DOI are given.
Terms and Conditions | Legal Statements | Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Citing Internet Archaeology
Internet Archaeology content is preserved for the long term with the Archaeology Data Service. Help sustain and support open access publication by donating to our Open Access Archaeology Fund.
Home
