Draft:Ferintosh Distillery
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Last edited by Donaldpayne (talk | contribs) 0 seconds ago. (Update) |
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| Region: Highland | |
|---|---|
| Location | Urquhart and Logie Wester, Scotland |
| Owner | Duncan Forbes, 3rd of Culloden |
| Founded | 1689 |
| Status | Closed |
| Water source | Ryefield Burn, Castle Burn |
Ferintosh distillery produced whisky at more than one location on the Black Isle north of Inverness from 1689 until its closure in 1786. The name is thought to have been anglicised from ‘the estate of the thane’, Fearann Tòisigheachd, the land having once belonged to the Thane of Cawdor[1]. The brand was reprieved by the Ben Wyvis distillery in Dingwall between 1893 and 1926, and again by Invergordon Distillers who made it elsewhere for two years around 1965. The spirit – if not the name – is being kept alive at the new Glen Wyvis distillery which opened in 2015 on the Heights of Brae above Dingwall.
Location
[edit]At least four separate individual distilleries manufactured Ferintosh whisky under what appears to have been a unique historical exemption from payment of excise duty in the early sixteenth century[2]. Production was concentrated on the north-west slopes of the Black Isle within the parish of Urquhart and Logie Wester, the lands of Ferintosh having been purchased by John Forbes, 2nd of Culloden, in 1670. Around that time, the parish became a detached part of the County of Nairn surrounded by Ross-shire.
‘An Isle but not an island, located in the Highlands but essentially lowland in character, intensively managed but sometimes surprising in its wildness, the Black Isle is a land of contradictions and contrasts’, writes local ecologist Ro Scott[3]. The lands of Ferintosh are underlain by Old Red Sandstone which has been reworked into a thick layer of glacial till. On top of this substrate, a freely draining podzol developed which is suitable for cultivation: soil surveyors noted a high concentration of small crofting units in the area[4]. Whisky made here might be classified as ‘Highland’, but the topography is smooth and undulating, the soil rich and dark and the climate mild and maritime. Local placenames Corntown and Ryefield reflect the arable wealth of the area and emphasize its suitability for whisky production.
Compared with a modern population of little over 500 people[5], the Statistical Account of Scotland for the year 1779 recorded 3022 souls in the parish occupying 2901 homes[6].
Taxation
[edit]The concept of levying a tax on commodities was imported from the Netherlands in the early seventeenth century. It contributed in part to putting the ‘great’ into Great Britain[7]. The first attempt to introduce excise to these shores was made by one Julius Caesar, who was Master of the Rolls to Charles I in 1627. The tax was immediately unpopular, described as ‘monstrum, horrendum’ by the Speaker of the House of Commons[8]. Samuel Johnson’s definition of the word ‘excise’ caused him to be threatened with libel in 1755 by the Attorney General2. Dr Johnson was given the opportunity to alter his dictionary, but he was unabashed. His impartial definition remains: ‘a hateful tax … adjudged by wretches’.
Ferintosh distillery was a special case. In the Wars of the Three Kingdoms the Forbes family sided with the government, making them unpopular with many locals. While John’s son Duncan Forbes, 3rd of Culloden, was absent on government business in Holland in 1689, his house and crops were sacked by the Jacobites, and all the whisky stills destroyed.
| Year | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1621 | August 4th | A system of excise partially enacted in Edinburgh |
| 1627 | January 29th | An early attempt to introduce excise in England |
| 1643 | July 22nd | Parliamentary Ordinance on excise duty |
| 1670 | Lands of Ferintosh bought by John Forbes, 2nd of Culloden | |
| 1688 | Duncan Forbes, 3rd of Culloden, raised an army | |
| 1689 | Ferintosh distillery sacked in retaliation by the Jacobites | |
| 1690 | July 22nd | Act of Parliament in favour of Duncan Forbes |
| 1760 | Construction of three more distilleries at Ferintosh | |
| 1784 | The Wash Act ends the privilege; the Ferintosh distilleries close |
Forbes was compensated for his loss by an act of parliament affording him the right to distil whisky free from excise duty in perpetuity, on payment of an annual fee of four hundred Merks Scots, then worth about £20 a year. The amount of duty attached to whisky at this time was only ½d per gallon so payments to the exchequer must have barely exceeded the cost of collecting them, especially in remote regions[9]. However, under the stewardship of Duncan’s sons the number of distilleries in the parish of Urquhart proliferated – as many as 29 were operating in the 1780s – and the privilege could have been worth a thousand times the annual fee. Frequent representations were made by other distillers unable to compete with the Ferintosh monopoly. ‘All tyme coming’ came to an abrupt end in 1786 when a one-off payment of £21,500 was made to Arthur Forbes, 7th of Culloden, to end the privilege.
References
[edit]- ^ MacKinnon, Prof Kenneth, 2024, ‘History and Information’, online at ferintosh.org, accessed 12 April 2024.
- ^ Owens, John, 1879, ‘Plain Papers relating to the Excise Branch of the Inland Revenue Department from 1621 to 1878: or A History of the Excise’, Linlithgow, 564 pp, online at books.google.ki/books?id=wocBAAAAQAAJ, accessed 10 February 2024.
- ^ Scott, Ro, 2008, ‘Ecology of the Black Isle’, online at www.black-isle.info/ecology-of-the-black-isle, accessed 10 February 2024.
- ^ Romans, JCC, 1984, ‘The Soils of the Black Isle’, Craigiebuckler: The Macaulay Institute, online at www.hutton.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/soils/142141013_THE_SOILS_OF_THE_BLACK_ISLE.PDF, accessed 12 April 2024.
- ^ Scottish Government, 2011, ‘Statistics Black Isle North 02’, online at statistics.gov.scot/id/statistical-geography/S01010728, accessed 28 March 2024.
- ^ Sinclair, Sir John, 1779, ‘The Statistical Account of Scotland Volume V Number XIII’, Edinburgh: William Creech, online at stataccscot.edina.ac.uk/static/statacc/dist/volume/osa/osa-vol5, accessed 14 April 2024.
- ^ Rushworth, John, 1721, ‘1627 (part 1 of 2)’ in ‘Historical Collections of Private Passages of State: Volume 1, 1618-29’, London: D Browne, online at www.british-history.ac.uk/rushworth-papers/vol1/pp422-489, accessed 10 February 2024.
- ^ Ibeson, James, 1653, ‘A Condemnation of the Dutch Devil Excise’, cited in Ashworth, William J, 2003, ‘Customs and Excise: Trade, Production, and Consumption in England 1640-1845’, Oxford: Oxford Academic, online at academic.oup.com/book/10477/chapter-abstract/158357283, accessed 25 April 2024.
- ^ Macfadzean, R W, 1898, ‘Burns’s Excise Duties and Emoluments’, in M’Naught, D (editor), 1898, ‘Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory’, Glasgow: John Horn, 152 pp, online at www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Annual_Burns_Chronicle_and_Club_Director/uNozAQAAMAAJ.