ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered dramatic evidence that one of the most remote glens in the Highlands was a major centre for the production of illicit whisky at the height of the illegal trade in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Strathconon is a 25-mile long glen in the heart of Ross-shire, stretching from the wooded banks of the River Conon in the east to heather-clad mountains to the west.

Until now, the glen has only been known for its role in the Highland Clearances, when hundreds of crofters were forced to leave their homes and settle elsewhere on the Mackenzie estates.

However, a team of archaeologists with the North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS) has spent the last three years uncovering evidence of the glen's shadowy and secret past - as a "hotbed" of illicit distilling and bootleg smuggling.

It was revealed yesterday that the amateur archaeologists have uncovered more than 50 bothies where whisky was illegally distilled scattered along the glen, together with evidence of large malt kilns and barns for storing the grain used in the production of the illegal hooch.

Their survey, undertaken as part of the Scotland's Rural Past (SRP) project, has also recorded more than 260 archaeological sites, dating to prehistoric times, across the landscape - of which two thirds were previously unrecorded.

Tertia Barnett, the SRP project manager, said yesterday that the evidence uncovered by the society's team meant that the history of the glen would have to be completely rewritten.

She said: "A whole fascinating social history has emerged alongside the archaeology. The team uncovered the sites of more than 50 illicit stills along the glen - very much in secret locations along Strathconon.

"They were ramshackle buildings and would have been camouflaged to keep them from prying eyes and the excise men."

_{Article by Frank Urquhart and courtesy of:
http://whisky.scotsman.com/viewblog.aspx?id=762}