View from SW showing SW front of beam engine with part of cottages in background
SC 718259
Description View from SW showing SW front of beam engine with part of cottages in background
Date 7/5/1970
Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland
Catalogue Number SC 718259
Category On-line Digital Images
Scope and Content Water-bucket Pumping Engine, Straitsteps Mine, Wanlockhead, Dumfries & Galloway Veins of lead ore in the Wanlockhead area were developed from the 17th century with encouragement from the Queensberry Estate. Together with Leadhills, next door in Lanarkshire, Wanlockhead had the richest deposits of lead ore in Scotland. This shows a pumping engine of primitive type, apparently installed in the mid-late 19th century. A wooden bucket on the right-hand end of the beam was filled with water, the weight of which pulled up the pump-rod on the left. When the bucket was emptied the pump-rod fell, forcing mine water to the surface. This engine, built of wood, with some iron fittings, escaped the wartime drive for scrap which removed most relics of lead mining in this area, and by 1970 was the most interesting relic of the industry. It was, shortly afterwards, taken into state care, and carefully repaired. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
External Reference H35/70/15/33
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/718259
File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap
Attribution: © HES. Reproduced courtesy of J R Hume
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