Glenury Royal Distillery was located in the Highlands, near Stonehaven, South of Aberdeen. It takes its name from the glen that runs through the Ury district.
This distillery's history is filled with tragedy. It was built in 1825, by Robert Barclay. Just a couple of weeks into production, a fire destroyed the kiln, malting floors and barley stock. Then weeks after the fire, a worker fell into the boiler and died. In 1835, Barclay made a request to the king to use "Royal" in Glenury's title.
Through his good connections, he was granted the title, and the future finally started looking bright for "Glenury Royal". In 1854, Barclay passed away, and William Ritchie from Glasgow bought the distillery. After a halt during World War I in 1936, the distillery was sold to the Glenury Distillery Company.
In 1938, Associated Scottish Distilleries Ltd took the control of the management and United Distillers bought the site through a merger. It was mothballed in 1983. They decided not to reopen the distillery.
Glenury Royal drew its water supply from the Cowie waters, and had two pairs of stills with unknown capacities. Floor malting of lightly peated barley continued until 1968. After this industrial maltings were used.