A targeted archaeological excavation at Ben Lawers National Nature Reserve in Scotland has uncovered a piece of a copper still, providing strong evidence that a hidden stone structure was used for illicit whisky distillation. The discovery was made by the National Trust for Scotland’s Archaeology team and volunteers as part of The Pioneering Spirit project, which is supported by The Glenlivet.
The tapered copper alloy collar is believed to be what is known in Gaelic as An Gearradan, or "the connecting piece," which sat between the lyne arm and the head of a still. An illustration found in an early 20th-century Gaelic dictionary depicting A Phoit-dhubh, meaning "black pot," supports this identification.
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Further well-preserved features confirmed the structure was a bothy purpose-built for clandestine distilling. These included a well-constructed hearth with evidence of burning, a substantial stone-capped drain beneath the internal floor, and a timber roof-support post buried when the walls collapsed.
There are five known illicit whisky bothies on the Ben Lawers reserve, but the copper still fragment is unique to this site.
Derek Alexander, the National Trust for Scotland‘s 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."
"This bothy is well concealed along one arm of the Lawers Burn, nestled in a burn gulley where there’s a slight bend in the burn to shield the site from both upstream and downstream," Alexander added. "The people who distilled here knew what they were doing and it’s possible the still was never seized by the authorities."
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He explained that the fragment’s presence likely points to a hasty departure. "The fact that we’ve found this connecting piece here suggests the still was dismantled in a hurry and its components whisked away by the smugglers as they dispersed. The connecting piece may have been forgotten in the rush and left behind."
In the 1780s, unlicensed private distillation was declared illegal in Scotland. Highland tenants who had relied on the practice for centuries moved their operations into remote upland areas to evade excise officers.
Alexander described the find’s broader significance: "Distillers of illicit whisky would’ve travelled light and left little trace of their activity, and so a find like this is especially rare and exciting. 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."
The Pioneering Spirit project has now identified 30 sites of illicit distilling across landscapes in the care of the National Trust for Scotland, including at Mar Lodge Estate, Torridon, and Ben Lomond. The Trust’s Archaeology team was awarded Current Archaeology’s Archaeological Research Project of the Year in 2025 for the work.
