Tomintoul

The village was laid out on a grid pattern by Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon in 1775. It followed the construction, twenty years previously, of a military road by William Caulfeild – now the A939. The duke's motivation for his efforts was the hope that a permanent settlement would minimize cattle theft and illegal distilling of spirits in the area.[5] Estimates suggest that in the early 1700s there had been up to 200 illicit stills in the Livet glen, with spirits smuggled out over the Ladder hills.[6]

In this "model village", he encouraged the production of linen but this plan was not successful; the locals stuck to subsistence agriculture, growing vegetables and raising cattle. A report in 1797 indicated that there were 37 families in the village "without any industry. All of them sell whisky and all of them drink it". In 1820, some 14,000 illegal stills were confiscated annually in the Livet glen area. The 1823 Excise Act allowed for making whisky under licence and some took advantage in order to make a legal profit.[7] One of the first to do so was George Smith who started a distillery on his farm in the nearby village of Minmore. That small operation, founded in 1824, eventually grew to become The Glenlivet distillery in Upper Drumin (14 km from Tomintoul) which produces The Glenlivet single malt whisky, known around the world.[8]

St Michael's RC Church, built 1837

In the Victorian era, the village was receiving some tourism; in 1860, there were three inns here.[9] An 1857 Commercial Gazetteer described the community as a mean-looking village on a bleak moor with superstitious residents.[10] The 1882-4 Frances Groome's Ordnance Gazetteer for Scotland also did not depict Tomintoul as a prosperous village:[11]

"Consisting of a central square and a single street, running ¾ mile north-north-westward, it is described by the Queen, under date 5 Sept. 1860, as 'the most tumble-down, poor-looking place I ever saw-a long street with three inns, miserable dirty-looking houses and people, and a sad look of wretchedness about it'. ... Tomintoul has a post office with money order, savings' bank, and telegraph departments, a public and a Roman Catholic school, cattle fairs ... and hiring fairs ..."

Both churches, built prior to 1840, remain open in the village, Tomintoul Church and St Michael's. According to the above source, the population was as follows: 530 in 1839 and 686 by 1881.

The Malt Whisky Trail Map; Tomintoul is located close to Glenlivet

The Whisky Castle (2004)

Main Street, Tomintoul (2007)

The Hotel Square

Queen Victoria's visit in 1860 helped boost tourism which still remains the primary economic activity. Marketing initiatives in the area today include SnowRoads and North East 250 scenic routes.[12] Still billed as "the highest village in the Highlands", with a town square and Victorian buildings, Tomintoul offers tourists options such as snowsports in winter. Areas of interest in the vicinity include Glenlivet Estate (fishing as well as walking, cycling and horseback riding trails), north eastern Cairngorms and the (Speyside) Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail.[13] The village also has a small museum, the Tomintoul & Glenlivet Discovery Centre, which focuses on life in the highlands through history.

The primary retailers for tourists include the Tomintoul Gallery that sells work created by local artists, the A’anside Studios that sell arts and crafts and the Whisky Castle, which offers hundreds of single malts.[14] The Castle has operated for over a century and offers whisky from every major distillery as well as some rare products from distilleries no longer in operation. The Tomintoul Distillery, in nearby Ballindalloch provides some employment; the company has been making whisky here for many decades. There is no visitor centre but some visits are allowed, by prior appointment.[15]

The two main hotels in the village had closed by 2010, however. In an attempt to improve the economy, the area created the Regeneration Strategy and Action Plan in 2011, which led to the establishment of the Tomintoul and Glenlivet Development Trust in 2012. The group has taken several steps to "develop, inspire and embrace a vibrant future for the Tomintoul and Glenlivet area", seeking investment and promoting the area's visitor attractions. The regeneration effort obtained funding of approximately £3.5 million to be used for projects that would benefit the "cultural and natural landscape" of the area.[16]

As of 2019, the village offers many small accommodation facilities (The Smugglers hostel, B&Bs and holiday cottages) as well as three larger hotels (Hotel Square, The Glenavon and the Richmond Arms).[17] Hotel Square has a "highly recommended" restaurant using local seasonal produce. The regional whisky offerings and craft beer can be sampled in the Hotel's pub. The village also made the Glenlivet Walking Festival an annual event as suggested by the 2012 Regeneration Strategy and Action Plan. In addition to tourism and the nearby whisky industry, sheep and beef cattle are raised on farms around the village.[18]

The artist and writer Mary Barnes died there in 2001 after living there for some time.

The immunologist Prof Kenneth Boyd Fraser FRSE retired to Tomintoul and died there.

Lynn Cassells and Sandra Baer farm the nearby Lynbreck Croft.

The author Captain W. E. Johns lived in the Richmond Hotel at Tomintoul from 1944 to 1947, before renting Pitchroy Lodge on the nearby Ballindalloch Estate from 1947 to 1953.

Percy Toplis - The "Monocled Mutineer"

Percy Toplis took refuge in the area in 1920 before being discovered by a local farmer. He made his escape, shooting and wounding the farmer and a police constable while doing so. Within a week, he was shot dead by police in England.

Lord Tony Williams

In the 1990s an individual, styled by the media as Lord Tony Williams, spent £1 million on improving the Gordon Arms Hotel (now Hotel Square) and invested money in other businesses. He was later shown to be a fraud who had stolen £4.5 million from his former employer, the Metropolitan Police and was sentenced to seven years in prison.[19]

Grigor Willox

Grigor Willox was a reputed white witch who lived in Tomintoul in the 18th century. He was said to derive his powers from two amulets: a brass hook from a kelpie's bridle and a mermaid's crystal. Among his alleged powers were making cows produce milk, curing barren women, and detecting thieves.[20]

"Mrs MacKay"

The late Terry Wogan helped bring the A939 road from Tomintoul to Cockbridge to national attention, along with local, fictional postmistress "Mrs MacKay". As reported in the Scottish daily newspaper The National:

In 1999, after he criticised the council for never being prepared for the snow, locals wrote in to say it was not the local authority that cleared the snow, but rather Mrs MacKay, the silver-haired postmistress and her silver-handled shovel. She was doing the best she could, they insisted. For the next decade listeners would phone in with sightings of the near mythical Mrs MacKay shovelling snow. Sometimes, they said, she would be out shovelling snow as early as June.[21]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tomintoul.

• Visit Tomintoul
• 2001 Census data
• Glenlivet and the Cairngorms
• Tomintoul and Cairngorms National Park Info and Accommodation, Hotels, B&Bs, Self-catering, Camping and Hostels