The Glenury distillery was sited at Scotland’s East Coast, just outside of the fishing town of Stonehaven. The distillery was established by Captain Robert Barclay who was both the Laird of Ury and a Member of Parliament. The local agricultural industry had been suffering and the Captain took it upon himself to relieve the situation; the distillery was intended to provide a steady market for locally produced barley.
Glenury was founded in 1825 and, just a few weeks after production began, a devastating fire raged through the distillery, destroying the malting floors, the kiln and a large quantity of barley. Not long after, the distillery experienced its second tragedy. This time the consequences were far direr, when a worker, James Clark, was killed having fallen into the boiler. Glenury, also known as Glenury Royal, gained its regal suffix with the permission of King William IV, swayed by a fellow MP ‘Mrs Windsor’.
In 1924, Joseph Hobbs acquired the distillery for the sum of £7,500 and in 1938 Associated Scottish Distilleries purchased Glenury for £18,500. In 1953, Distillers Company Ltd, latterly a part of Diageo, acquired the distillery and subsequently transferred it to Scottish Malt Distillers. During the 1960s the distillery was renovated; the floor maltings were closed down and a further two stills were installed bringing the total to four. The distillery was mothballed in 1985 and its licence was cancelled in 1992. In 1993, the area was acquired by a housing company who built apartments on the site. There are a handful of independent releases and official bottlings are, of course, rather rare.