Business: James Aitken and Co (Falkirk) Ltd
Location: Linlithgow
Type: Malting
James Aitken & Co bought the Mains Distillery in Linlithgow in 1855 and converted it into a maltings, which they enlarged in 1875. Alfred Barnard visited the maltings in 1889 by which time it had a frontage of 190 feet and was supplied with water from a well 600 ft deep in the neighbouring meadow, possibly linked to water supplies from nearby Preston House.
Maltings were often built in rural areas as they needed to be spacious, and urban locations were often not cost-effective. Linlithgow was ideally placed to take advantage of the good quality barley from farms in West Lothian and trains could easily carry malt to the Falkirk Brewery from a railway sidings attached to the maltings.
Two rows of cottages were built close to the maltings for the maltmen and their families.
Active: 1855 - 1980s
Address: Mains Road
Status: Converted
Current Use: Residential property
Books and periodicals
Gibb, F. The brewers and breweries of Linlithgowshire. Stirling: Lomax Press, 2009.
Gibb, F. The brewers and breweries of Stirlingshire. Stirling: Lomax Press, 2009.
James Aitken & Co. (Falkirk) Ltd. 200 years of progress. Falkirk: James Aitken & Co. (Falkirk) Ltd., 1940.
