Archaeology Notes

Event ID 705957

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/705957

NS81SE 6 88 14

For lead mines at Wanlockhead (NS 87 13), see NS81SE 2.

There is written evidence of mining at Leadhills for the year 1600, and gold was mined in the area at the time of Queen Elizabeth.

NSA 1845

Lead is said to have been first discovered at Leadhills by Martin Templeton in 1513. Whatever discovery may have been made then, it is certain that the mines were known 300 years before that time. Several charters of the time of Alexander II mention mines in a situation corresponding wtih the Lead Hills, showing that the mines were then well-known, and were then probably wrought.

During the reigns of James V, Queen Mary, and James VI, there are numerous notices of the working of the gold mines and the lead mines of Crawfordmuir, Glengonner, and Wanlockhead.

G Chalmers 1887

The first record of lead mining in the Leadhills district was that of the mine at Glengonnar being worked by the Monks of Newbattle in 1239. It is an accepted fact that mining was carried on long before then. It declined for a bit, but was recommenced in 1562. In 1592 the lead mines came under the ownership of Bevis Bulmer a skilled miner, and to this day many old dumps are known as 'Bulmer's Dumps'. Smelting of lead has not been carried on for several year, the ore being sold direct from the dressing floors.

R Brown 1927

There are innumerable disused lead mines in this area, and gold has been discovered in or around most of the streams.

Visited by OS (JD) 7 July 1955.

(Location cited as NS 88 15). Leadhills, active 17th century to early 20th century. A lead-mining village with the small rubble cottages of the miners. Interesting features are the warning bell (NS 885 148) and the Miner's Library. Round the village are complex remains of lead mining, though virtually no complete structures survive.

J R Hume 1976.