View of wormtubs from S
SC 742453
Description View of wormtubs from S
Date 1993
Catalogue Number SC 742453
Category On-line Digital Images
Copy of C 19625 CN
Scope and Content Worm tubs from south-south-east, Rosebank Distillery, Camelon Road, Falkirk Rosebank Distillery was founded c.1817 and restored and converted in the 1840s by James Rankine. His son, R W Rankine rebuilt the distillery in 1864, with ownership passing to the Rosebank Distillery Ltd in 1894. The maltings were demolished c.1970, and the site mothballed in 1993. This shows the worm tubs outside the still house. These large wooden vessels supported by bands of iron contain coiled copper tubes which gradually narrow in diameter as they pass through circulating cold water. These tubs cool the vapour created when wash is heated in the stills, condensing it into spirit to be redistilled or sent to the filling store. The early home-made stills used by illicit distillers hidden in the mountains used small copper worms inside barrels as their condensers. The still and worm were together known as 'the ewe with the crooked horn'. If discovered by the excisemen, these parts would be the first things to be destroyed, as they were vital for the manufacturing process and very expensive. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap
Attribution: © RCAHMS
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