Illicit Distillation in Inishowen
By Brian Bonner from Our Inis Eoghain Heritage (1972)

Reports from merchants in Dungannon and Belfast show that among the upper classes the bottle of 'Inishowen' had a special place. It was kept in the cellar and was produced only on great occasions and for the honoured guest. It commanded a price far greater than legal whiskey and other illicit products. An elaborate marketing system evolved to ensure that the Inis Eoghain product reached its customers at home and abroad. Boats from Scotland came over with barley, corn, herrings and ponies. In exchange the Scots took back kegs of Inis Eoghain whiskey to give joy to the heart of the Highland chief and his clan at every festive gathering.

The city of Derry and the town of Strabane drew their supplies from the peninsula. The whiskey was transported thither on horseback. From Strabane it went to customers throughout Tyrone. Twice weekly a whiskey fair was held in Bun an Phobail. Here suppliers and buyers met in public. A fair took place also at Magilligan on the opposite side of the Foyle. Thither from the counties around came vendors of barley, which was bartered for whiskey or at times paid for in money. Indeed, the Foyle was full of small boats plying in both directions. From Magilligan the whiskey was taken to Derry, Antrim and Down. Records show that Inis Eoghain whiskey even reached Dublin. Indeed, at one investigation a highly placed official in the excise department stated that the whole country was supplied with it at one time. The northern coasts of Derry and Antrim were supplied direct from Inis Eoghain by boat. Illicit distillation was so widespread in Inis Eoghain that every stratum of society except the clergy was involved.

In the early part of the nineteenth century, Major Bellingham Swan, the Inspector General of Excise and Licenses of Ireland, reported that there were an estimated 3,000 private distillers in all Ireland. Of these 43 per cent, or 1,300 were based in Inis Eoghain. Another report stated that the people of this barony were smugglers and distillers from their cradles and added that they had 'a bad an inveterate nature'. While the practice was widespread, there were areas in the peninsula of particular notoriety. Aenaeas Coffey, Inspector General of Excise, reported circa 1810 that the townland of Moneydarragh in the parish of Culdaff was completely overrun by distillation. Other places mentioned were Urris in the parish of Clonmany and Iskaheen in the parish of Templemore. In view of the coming struggle between the people and Government, it is well to furnish evidence regarding the people of the barony. Samuel Lumsden, an officer based at Grousehall in 1816, referred to the people as kind and responsive to any act of generosity done to them. Viewed from the conspectus of history, here was a people peace loving, passive and even spineless They had endured English occupation without any resistance. They had been deprived of their lands. Denied their religious freedom, they worshipped in secret and in fear. The law forbade them the means of education. All this was borne with what some interpret as heroic patience. Others see their docility as a sign of weakness and servility.

However, when the British Government began its campaign to eradicate the distilling industry it met with a fierce, bitter and bloody resistance which highlighted the land of Inis Eoghain throughout the Three Kingdoms. The years 1815, 1816 and 1817 were a time of battle, of blood and suffering for 48,000 odd citizens of this part of Ireland. It thus becomes evident that the very inmost core of their being was touched, so that a ruthless Government for once met with an equally ruthless resistance. The action taken by the British Government to suppress illicit distillation was a matter of money, not morals. The Revenue Department was concerned with raising through taxation sufficient money to finance Government expenditure. A duty had been imposed on whiskey in Ireland for a long time. The first reference we can find is that a duty of 4 pence per gallon was in force here in 1661, during the reign of Charles II. By 1782 the rate had increased to one shilling and two pence. The rate kept increasing year by year. e.g. in 1802, two shillings and ten pence; in 1820, five shillings and seven pence; and in 1860, eight shillings and one penny.

In the second half of the eighteenth century legislation was passed which required a Government license for distilling. To ensure the payment of duty the authorities had no option but to require that all distillers be registered and operate in a location and under conditions which would enable the gauger to know exactly the amount of spirits produced. In other words, the revenue official had to know who made whiskey, where it was made, when it was made and in what quantity, if the correct rate of duty was to be fixed and collected. Hence, the substance of the acts passed between 1760 and 1782 meant that distillers could be sited in towns only where a gauger was located. The result was to make distillation illegal throughout almost the whole of Ireland and to bring all rural Ireland into direct conflict with the law. Up to the end of the eighteenth century it would seem that matters continued throughout the country as before the enactment of the legislation. No serious attempt was made to interfere with illicit distillers. Indeed, it would seem that the acts had a contrary effect in Inis Eoghain, where illegal distillation increased. At the beginning of the new century the authorities in Dublin Castle began, no doubt under pressure from London, to become concerned. Thus the first shot was fired in the battle between the illegal distillers and the authorities. A spate of punitive legislation was soon to reach the Statute Book. As a result, the lords and Members of Parliament in Westminster were now to become deeply involved in Irish affairs. The illicit distillation episode was but the beginning of a century in which Ireland and her problems were to be discussed without intermission in the houses of Parliament in London. Every noble lord and each honourable member knew a little more about Irish Geography

Not one member of either House in the early years of the nineteenth century was ignorant of the existence and location of that part of His Majesty's realm known as 'the barony of Inis Eoghain'. The standard government approached in devising legislation to discourage illegal distillation was that of fines and imprisonment. In practice it was so often impossible to determine the ownerships of stills etc., that legislation was passed to place fines on an area basis - at first the parish and later the townland. Where the stiller was not caught red-handed, the fine was imposed on the area in which the offence took place. The people as a whole were deemed to be guilty - those who stilled, because they infringed the law, and those who did not because they failed to inform the revenue officers. A dangerous reaction developed for the government, because the innocent preferred to make enemies of the officers by their silence than to be given the name of informer by their neighbours. As a result, the revenue officers and the law were regarded as the common enemy...

As well as resolutions and meetings, some of the landowners took active steps to prevent illicit distilling in their areas. Young of Culdaff, landlord of a substantial area in North Inis Eoghain, formed the Culdaff Yeomanry. The members were mostly local people and a major part of their duty was to suppress illicit distillation. Young paid fines of upwards of £2,000 on behalf of his tenants and then endeavoured to collect the money from them. He seized upwards of 100 stills. The indignant tenants attacked his dwelling and windows were broken. He was compelled to place an armed guard at night to ensure the safety of himself and his family ... George and Tristam Carey carried out a strong campaign against illicit spirits among their tenants in Upper Moville. The house of George Carey was attacked in the daytime by infuriated tenants. Others in Inis Eoghain who took steps to discourage the stilling among their tenants were Edward Chichester, Rector of Culdaff and Cloncha; Reverend Montgomery, Rector of Moville; Austin, landlord at Ture, Harvey, landlord at Malin. The most successful action took place at Fahan, under the direction of Spenser Knox, son of the Protestant Bishop of Derry, and Peter Maxwell. The southern part of the barony as a result was less affected by illicit distillation. However, in general the landlord's action had no lasting effect. The people carried on the illicit traffic as before. Indeed there was an increase because of the greater demand caused by government action elsewhere. As the punitive laws were churned out from Westminster in the early part of the nineteenth century, the people were, if at all, only dimly aware of their nature or possible effects. Newspapers were few and events in Dublin and London rarely reached the ears of the ordinary people of Inis Eoghain. Desultory attempt were made by revenue men here and there against illegal stillers. Now and again the army unit stationed at Buncrana took action. But in general the law was a dead letter in this barony.

The Government functioning from Dublin was a dim and distant institution which had never shown its hand in Inis Eoghain. The Government was neither feared nor respected. Its functions and methods of action were unknown. The first quarter of the nineteenth century was to see a profound change in attitude towards the central authority and its agents, however. The threat to the well-being of the community united its members. An attack on one family was deemed an attack on all in the neighbourhood. The informer was given drastic treatment. When no justice or law existed in the real sense, rough and ready 'justice and law' were devised by the people. As soon as the revenue men and the army came near an area a signal system warned the people, In Muff the bell of the Protestant Church was rung at the approach of the Government representatives. When the revenue authorities complained to the curate he replied that it was customary to ring the bell in times of common danger! The threat to report the matter to the Protestant bishop at Derry stopped this method of communication.

In other areas the warning was given by the blowing of a horn. While the stillers worked a watcher stood on the highest hill in the area. The 'Cnoc an Amhairc' or 'Watch Hill', so familiar in every part of Inis Eoghain, was put to a new use. In former generations, the watcers kept vigil here while priest and people in a nearby glen united in the sacrifice of the Mass. Now the watcher kept vigil to warn the stiller, so that all equipment could be dismantled and hidden before the revenue officers and their escort arrived. Secret societies were formed, The will of the individual, however weak and vacillating, became merged into a ruthless, unflinching, communal will. The result was that inoffensive and peaceful men became part of a vast organisation which carried out speedily and effectively the most atrocious acts which could be conceived. Desperation had driven a peaceful, God-fearing people to actions which surprised all who had known them before. Eye witnesses recording many harrowing scenes. John Curry, the assistant barrister for Derry, stated that he had occasion to enter a house in the parish of Donagh. There he found a man lying face-downwards on the floor in a state of utter dejection. The man stated that he was not a stiller, yet because of the townland fining system all his property had been seized. His wife and seven children had now nothing left save a few potatoes. Peter Maxwell of Fahan stated in evidence that the distress among the people in the barony was beyond all belief. Livestock seized by the revenue men starved to death in Derry while the owners and their families starved to death in Inis Eoghain. Property three times the value of the warrant was seized. Because of the general condition of misery and suffering, the witness had decided to leave Ireland and go to Switzerland. The Protestant rector of Cloncha, Edward Chichester, stated that when the cattle were seized and driven to the pound in Carndonagh, the owners came and tried to feed them. Mothers with children in arms came to seek permission to milk their cows so that the slender thread of life remaining might be maintained unbroken for some time longer.

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