North Steading Range, Royal Lochnagar Distillery

The North Steading Range comprises a group of distinctive buildings constructed in 1845, with subsequent alterations in the late 19th and 20th centuries, forming a purpose-built distillery. A manager’s house is located to the northeast. The buildings are constructed of coursed grey granite rubble, with the 4-storey, double-pile former maltings building (now a warehouse) featuring regularly spaced small shuttered or hoist door openings. The steading itself, now a visitor's centre, has a U-plan with seven former cart arches to the east, framed by advanced blank gabled ends to the north and south, now fitted with boarded, two-leaf timber doors. A pyramid-roofed mash house is present, along with a complex of single-storey office buildings to the north, including a three-bay cottage. A tall brick chimney rises to the south. The fenestration is varied, but predominantly features timber surrounds, and the roofs are covered with grey slate, with some gable stacks. Brown painted iron rainwater goods are present.

Internally, the buildings have been extensively modernised, but a significant original feature remains: an old, open-top mash tun with rakes, and rows of iron columns are visible in the former maltings.

The manager’s house is a two-storey, three-bay building with a timber gabled porch constructed from coursed grey and pink granite. It has timber sash and case windows, two gable stacks, and purple slates, with white-painted rainwater goods. A single-storey outhouse is present, built of granite rubble with an eight-pane timber casement window and a timber door.

This represents a good example of a group of mid-19th century distillery buildings still in operation. The distillery was established in 1845, following a fire on the site in 1841. John Begg was granted a lease to build the distillery and, after a visit from Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1848, he received a Royal Warrant and the distillery adopted the name Royal Lochnagar. Significant but sensitive alterations were made in the late 20th century to accommodate visitors and enable modern distilling practices. The structures are located within the Cairngorms National Park.