Illicit Stiller
An underground network
To deliver a dram
Here’s to freedom an' whisky
To the distillery man
Once the hub of Scotland’s illicit whisky trade, the hills of Moray once disguised a complex web of activity. The sites of secret whisky bothys are still being discovered today and the remains of these small huts in the mountains serve as relics to a once thriving yet hidden industry.
The location of the bothys was intended to give the stillers the best view of any approaching excise men that might be on the hunt for them and were ideally located nearby a natural source of running water.
The Cabrach was the at the heart of the illicit whisky trade. It has been suggested that at one time every farm in the parish contained an illegal still from where the whisky would be smuggled far and wide. This bountiful trade not only supported the local economy but also strengthened and united the communities of Moray.
The folklore story below was very kindly communicated to us by Ben Hinnie, who offers these great opportunities in Moray www.stories-by-the-way.co.uk
The Changeling
Many years ago there was a great trade in the smuggling and sale of whisky from the many illicit stills that were hidden in the hills and glens of Speyside. A couple of enterprising young Speyside lads who were involved in this lucrative trade regularly made trips, over various secret routes, from the area around Glenlivet and Glenrinnes to sell their goods in Badenoch and Fort William,
On one occasion, in Glenlivet, they were loading their pack horses with whisky distilled by a crofter who was one of their regular suppliers. Once their small barrels of whisky were secured they were standing at the door of the croft, having a farewell dram with their friend and his wife. Suddenly, they heard the couple’s recently born baby scream out as if in pain. The mother went into the house and blessed the baby then spoke tenderly to him as she gently rocked his cradle. This seemed to soothe the bairn and the menfolk’s attention turned back to their drams, before the lads headed off to deliver their cargo.
They had not gone more than a few miles when they heard a whimpering sound coming from the heather by the side of the track. Looking around they found, to their great surprise, a bonny wee bairn lying swaddled in a warm tartan plaid at the road-side. Their surprise turned to horror as they realised that the bairn was their friend’s new born!
After a few minutes pondering this strange turn of events the lads realised that fairies must have taken away the human bairn and left a changeling in its place. The men concluded that the baby must have been dropped here when the mother had given the distressed child the holy blessing back at the croft. It was well known throughout the area that fairies often replaced human babies with their own kind as they believed that fairie children thrived on a diet of human breast milk.
Being nearer to their destination than the croft they decided to take the bairn with them and look after him until their business was done. Their intention being to reunite the parents with the wee bairn on the way home.
Some days later, they arrived back at the croft but said nothing about finding the child who was hidden in a bundle of blankets secured on one of their ponies. The mother was glad to see them safely returned but was distressed because, since they had left, her baby had been struck by a strange disease and no one in the glen knew what ailed him but few thought he would recover. As she was telling them this, the baby in the cot whimpered and sobbed between uttering strange, animal like, snorts, screams and roars..
On witnessing this, the young men went out to their ponies and returned with the couple’s real baby in very healthy condition and told the couple how they had found him. The mother then placed the baby back in his cradle while the lads put the changeling into a creel with some straw around him in order to burn him. It was widely believed that the best ways to be rid of changelings were by holding it underwater or holding it over a fire. These methods would expose the fairie child and force it to return home to its own kind.
Realising how the human folk were intending to deal with him, the changeling decided not to hang around to suffer his fate. He uttered a hellish scream before flying up the smoke-hole in the roof. Turning menacingly as he reached this smoky exit he screamed at the couple that the arrival of their guests had saved them and their baby from a very different ending…
The Water of Life
(With thanks to Peter Bye-Jensen, The Cabrach Trust)
Beyond the famous whisky trail lies the cradle of single malt. Concealed within the unassuming hills of the Cabrach are the remains of secret whisky bothys. Beautiful low walls beside the burns now overgrown with moss and vegetation are tantalising indicators of a once forbidden industry.
The bothys were well camouflaged in order to evade excise men, however, certain logistical requirements dictated their locations. A ready supply of running water was vital to the process and production was at its height during the winter months when water from the burns would be plentiful and cool. The excise men would struggle to navigate the landscape in harsh conditions, whereas the smugglers knew their way instinctively in and out of the Cabrach. The smoke from the bothys was also presumably harder to spot against a cloudy winter sky.
If caught, the stillers would face a fine and possible prosecution. To evade this they would often divide the dismantled equipment, so no one person could be deemed responsible if apprehended. The Cabrach consisted of proud and tightly-knit farming communities and warning systems were developed to indicate when excise men were on the move. An example of this was to place white linen on a peat stack, this would be clearly visible from the site of the bothy.
From 1823 onwards it was possible to be granted a license to distill, this largely dispelled the network of stillers and smugglers that inhabited the Cabrach, whose stubbornness, willpower and ingenuity paved the way for the brands we know today.
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