Maps


 

Maps are wonderful things, so here we'll look back on the area where Glen Mhor was situated and any changes. The landmark of the Caledonian Canal was completed in 1822, therefore predating the distillery by several decades. When the distillery did arrive, it was in Muirtown before it was swallowed up by an expanding Inverness. Located at the end of Telford Street, which we can see in this Ordnance Survey map from 1843-1882 that gives a glimpse of the landscape at that time. Credit: National Library of Scotland


1843



This is the other side of the map with Telford Street reaching the Caledonian basin and you can visualise how rural the Muirtown area was with a nursery and fields. Initially, from a newspaper story (see the newspaper section), we know that local Muirtown farmers were supplying barley to the distillery in 1896, if not prior.



1899


This map was published in 1899 but clearly is based upon an earlier survey. Not even featuring Glen Albyn, which had been producing since the 1840s and here shows its prior existence as a mill, and the football ground is missing.

We can explain this perhaps by saying the focus is on the growing town centre and the surrounding areas (such as Muirtown) have been overlooked. Still, it gives us the perspective of a pre-Mhor site.



1901

Just a year later we have some sense of detail around Glen Albyn, but Glen Mhor remains rural and still no football ground.




1902


Now we jump into 1902, you can see the transformation in the area and this map shows the arrival of Glen Albyn distillery, which would be next door to Glen Mhor and the then owners, refusal to grant their distillery manager a share in the business, prompting him to seek investment for the distillery that would ultimately become Glen Mhor.


And looking at the same map from that year, we can see the arrival of Glen Mhor distillery, placed in front of the football ground that is shown in surviving photographs. Compared to Glen Albyn, it was a modest affair initially.




1910

There are various editions of the local Inverness map since, but this 1910 edition marks the first mention of both distilleries together. Unfortunately, building detail is missing, instead, these are merely just markers of their respective locations, rather than offering us any real insight.



1929


In this map from 1929, we can see Inverness slowly swallowing up Muirtown and Glen Mhor still happily sitting in front of the football ground. 


Jumping into 1938, we can see that Glen Mhor remains relatively unchanged, of course, from 1920 both distilleries were under joint ownership and running in tandem, so potentially we may have to look at Glen Albyn for any growth.




1938


As demonstrated by this 1938 map showing Glen Albyn across the road, which has become a much larger site - Albyn when established was on a bigger plot, allowing for more expansion and ultimately warehousing.



1950


This map published in 1955, gives us a more detailed overview of the site with warehousing dominating the distillery site.



1962

Is this as good as it gets? A good perspective on this survey which was published in 1963. If there's anything to be taken from this perspective, it reinforces that Glen Mhor was now an enclosed site with only the long-established nursery to the south offering any possibility of expansion (this would become residential housing). We'll be identifying all the buildings with our ongoing research.




1969

This map is significant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it shows the finalised layout of the distillery (ignoring the whiskey spelling), as there would be no further major changes that we know of, or have documented since so far.

Secondly, and perhaps most important of all, is that it now shows the extension that was put against the maltings to accommodate the arrival of the Saladin Boxes. The detail extends to the inclusion of 2 tanks previously not seen on site.



And that's about it for our map research, thanks for reaching this point! We'd recommend heading over to our Photograph Section which contains several overhead images of the distillery into the 1980s.

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