Arrochar > Heritage Trail > The Village of Tarbet
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The Village Of Tarbet
Moving from the Toll you will come into the village of Tarbet. The most famous landmark is The Tarbet Hotel - situated on the junction at Loch Lomond. Opposite the Tarbet Hotel is the pier on Loch Lomond. This was a very popular spot for taking a steamer on Loch Lomond.
Moving along the road you come to Still Brae. This eighteenth century building which is situated on the Stilbrae, a part of General Wade’s road through the Highlands, at Tarbet, Loch Lomond, was built as the name suggests, as a distillery. The original building, constructed around 1735 is the part on the left and centre. The extreme left was the managers house. The part on the right was added about 1745 to house the manager when staff took over his previous quarters.
The factory was run by three families, who used locally grown grain. When mature, the whisky was transported out of the district by sea, there being no market for it in the village, due to the number of illicit stills and public houses, each self-sufficient. Bottles were supplied by a Dumbarton firm which collapsed in 1830 due to the expensive tax on window glass which the business relied upon. When the supply of bottles ended the distillery was forced to close.
The premises were then taken
over by an undertaker and joiner, then it became a plumbers store and
weavers workshop. At present nothing remains of the original interior
but behind the building are the remains of the old mill wheel base,
although vastly overgrown. Still Brae also housed a smiddy and an undertaker.
You then come to
the Tarbet School.
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