Whisky wasteland

Image: © Ian Dodds Taken: 3 Apr 2025

Wastelands are often mysterious. This small one sits above the Starlaw - officially Glen Turner - grain whisky distillery situated between Bathgate and Livingston, which is behind camera. It is far closer to housing in Bathgate than housing in Livingston, however, and sits on the periphery of Livingston's very suburban industrial estates. Bathgate, being an old town, doesn't always get included in Livingston's (newtown) industrial decision-making, which often leads to problems. The pile of big stones at the top left of the photo might well result from excavations undertaken recently during the planting of trees on nearby land and have nothing to do to with the distillery whatsoever. But the wasteland definitely originates from the building of the distillery. It is higher than the distillery and higher than the road that leads to the distillery. From my amateur viewpoint it looks like all the earth excavated in order that the distillery could be built on flat ground has ended up here, and that the over-ordered aggregates, bought for the distillery's building, ended up being put on top. I've looked at the recent news, and the distillery are either in the process of expanding their operations, or just trying to get permission to do so. The big dispute - undisputedly - is regarding black fungus, which they don't tell you about on whisky distillery tours. On the tours the slow escape of whisky from the wood barrels they get stored in is always described romantically as 'the angels' share'! But fungi like the taste and somehow turn walls (and even local roadsigns, by all accounts), into unhealthy black places.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0