EHG6305 - Watching brief - new facilities, Dalmore Distillery, Alness

An archaeological watching brief was undertaken by Highland Archaeology Services in 2024 to satisfy a planning condition during the development of a new stillhouse and boiler house with associated service yard, access, drainage and landscaping at Dalmore Distillery, Alness. Fieldwork was undertaken between 16th January and 28th June 2023. The work took place in a variety of conditions from heavy snowfall to dry and sunny. The area stripped was approximately 4209m² covering a zone to facilitate the development of the new stillhouse and boiler house, associated service yard, junction, access road, Suds drainage and landscaping. In addition to these an area to be used for a turning circle for the works and a temporary carpark for the distillery staff to the west of the site were also watched. Some areas (see areas marked in purple on Figure 8 in the report), as well as part of the Shore Road re-route, were not watched as they were vacuum excavated at the request of SSE due to the location of live cables. There was also an area to the east of the Shore Road re-route which was not watched while the archaeologist was on-site. This was examined after excavation, but no archaeology was believed to have been damaged during excavation. During the watching brief 22 possible archaeological features were recorded. These comprised 6 possible footings of stone built structures, 1 revetment structure with cobbles and concrete areas, another revetment structure with large concrete slabs/machine bases, 2 remains of garden walls, 10 concrete slabs/bases, a redbrick structure possibly associated with nearby concrete bases and the remains of the old substation to the south of the Shore Road. The structures and features are all thought to be modern and were characterised and recorded. The detailed findings are presented here. It was not felt that any additional post-excavation analysis would add to our understanding of these and, therefore, no further archaeological work was recommended. <1>