Barter currency find at 18th century mill site

THAT’LL BE three Deanstons. A historical project at a whisky distillery has uncovered an old currency that was used to barter for goods in an 18th century cotton mill village in Stirlingshire.

The currency was produced in the 1790s and was used by owners of the Deanston cotton mill, near Doune, to pay the mill workers.

Stamped with the name of the mill, it was then used locally and was accepted as legal tender in shops and businesses. It was also used to pay suppliers to the mill.

The currency was discovered as part of an archival project to find out more about the history of the distillery and its past as a cotton mill.

Archivist Jennifer Reade said: “We’re trying to get a real picture of the history of the distillery and the mill, and we’re looking for things that may have a connection to Deanston, whether it’s cotton or lace that was made at the mill, old currency, or old whisky bottles.”

Deanston has operated as a whisky distillery since 1966 after spending two hundred years as a cotton mill producing high quality lace, cotton sheets and towelling to the cotton industry, and using some of the largest water wheels in Europe to make its wares.

The currency was used at a time when the Royal Mint restricted production of silver because of its high value.

As demand for silver coins increased as a result of the industrial revolution, some businesses countermarked foreign coins. The Deanston coins that have so far been uncovered appeared to be Spanish American reales or dollars, and French half-crowns.

“Some coins are stamped with ‘Deanston Cotton Mill’ or ‘Deanston Works’ and then there are older coins which say the ‘Adelphi Mill’, which refers to the fact that the mill was once owned by three brothers, the Buchanan Brothers, who named it after the Greek for brothers,” said Reade. She added: “We’d love to track down more of both, if they are out there.”

Distillery manager Callum Fraser said: “The buildings at Deanston Distillery have been a focal point for the local community since the late 1700s, when they were first used as a cotton mill. It wasn’t until 1966 that they were converted to a Highland malt distillery and we’d love to hear from anyone who can help us piece together the history of the site.

“It could be that someone who still works within the whisky industry but who has moved away from Deanston has some real nuggets of information or has examples of some of the old bottles used between the 1960s and 1980s. We are appealing to everyone. We want to find ways of tracing and preserving Deanston’s heritage.”