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Glen Garry
Lead Smelter (19th Century)
Site Name Glen Garry
Classification Lead Smelter (19th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Tyndrum, Lead Crushing Mill; Glengarry; Crom Allt; Cononish; Dal Righ; Ardormie
Canmore ID 23869
Site Number NN32NW 1
NGR NN 3325 2985
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/23869
- Council Stirling
- Parish Killin
- Former Region Central
- Former District Stirling
- Former County Perthshire
NN32NW 1 3325 2985
See also NN22NE 1, NN32NW 4 and NN33SW 2.
(NN 3325 2985) Roofed building shown and described as Crushing Mill (Lead Ore) (NAT) in 1867 (shown as smaller, roofless building without name in 1900).
OS 6" map, Perthshire, 1st ed. (1867) and 2nd ed., (1900)
A lead smelting works was erected by the Scots Mining Company about 1768, on the east of Clifton. (See NN33SW 2 and NN22NE 1: the lead mines).
V A Firsoff 1954.
The site has been cleared of all building remains. Local enquiry ascertained that there was no mining here, the ore coming from mines in the hills to the west.
Visited by OS (F R H) 2 May 1962.
Harper confirmed.
Visited by OS (W D J) 22 April 1969.
The OS have the site as NN32NW 3 [sic], and have taken it from the 1867 6" series; there it was shown as a roofed building which was described as 'Crushing Mill (lead ore)'; by the 1900 edition, though, the site had been reduced to an unroofed enclosure. The 1867 6" series [map] shows the building with an enclosure on the SE end. A lade joined the building from the SW and runs along the railway until disappearing under the embankment. Two water tanks and an outflow leading to a pond are also shown, though there is no indication of a water supply to them. A small railway is shown which disappears under the embankment and then reappears opposite Tyndrum station. From there it runs to the lead mines on the side of Sron Nan Colan (NN 317 302 to 322 306), where the rail terminal is fed by another lade.
Though the OS record the site as cleared there is no vegetation over it and it is possible to make out the remains of the building. The site is a level area on the W side of the Crom Allt between the stream and the steep slope that rises to the SW. Some of the structural timbers stand up to 0.4m high, while the bases of some walling can be seen lying flush with the ground. Part of the building seems to have measured 12m by 9m, and within this there are two rows of timbers. One row is made up of pairs of timbers (measuring 34cm by 34cm) and the other is of single posts of lesser size. Where the lade would have passed through the building there is a steep-sided gully, but on the SE side is a square foundation of stones and probably another on the NW side; these probably supported a waterwheel. It is difficult to see any pattern in the surviving posts to the NW of the gully.
There must have also been a timber water shoot to connect the lade and the building, but none of this survives. The lade is stone-lined and some 0.7m wide where best-preserved. It runs along the contour until it is lost under the embankment, but there is no sign of a reservoir to feed it, though this may be under the sidings.
There is no trace of any of the machinery of the plant but further downstream where the Cnom Allt and Cononish combine to form the River Fillan are two pieces (for which, see NN32NW 4). One appears to be an anvil measuring 20 cubic centimetres [sic] and the other may be the axle from a mill wheel. Though these fragments lie in the stream bed and could have come from upstream, there are the remains of what was probably a building in the V between the two rivers (NN 3402 2897). This was shown in 1867 as a roofless enclosure, but there is a pile of glassy slag nearby and the site may have been industrial.
In reference to the 'Crushing Mill' the OS quote V A Firsoff (1954): 'a lead smelting works was erected by the Scots Mining Company about 1768, on the east of Clifton'. The site was certainly out of use by the date the Callander and Oban railway was constructed.
If a plan of this plant is not available among the documentary sources for the area, it would still be possible to record much of the structure and associated features. If vegetation regenerates on the site and the post stumps collapse, this site will be virtually lost.
Visited by RCAHMS (SPH), 16 June 1977.
NMRS, MS/977.
Publication Account (2009)
The website text produced for Tyndrum webpages on the Forest Heritage Scotland website (www.forestheritagescotland.com).
Introduction: The highs and the lows of Tyndrum mines
Within the hills above the village of Tyndrum, there are the remains of lead mines that have been worked on and off for nearly six hundred years.
The earliest known record of mining in this area was in 1424. Mined, however, for precious metals rather than lead, the mines supplied King James I with silver.
On 30th May 1730, Sir Robert Clifton signed a thirty-eight year lease with the Earl of Breadalbane to mine any metals that he could discover on the earl's estate. In 1740, he discovered lead and established Tyndrum mine the following year. Bad debts, however, led to his imprisonment in 1745 and he gave up his lease.
The Mine Adventurers of England (1746-1760) took over after Clifton's failure. This met with the approval of the Earl of Breadalbane.
"I am sure it will be upon the whole more beneficial and much safer to do with known reputable company than with people who upon trial may be perhaps too late found unequal to the undertaking"
Earl of Breadalbane's estate papers (1746)
Later in the 18th century, the Scots Mining Company (1768-1791) operated the mine and built a smelting works nearby to turn the mined lead ore, called galena, into metal.
Mining for lead, silver and gold continued at various times into the 20th century, but with limited success. Gold mining continues in the area today.
Discover a tale of failure in our People story.
People Story: An expensive ornament!
After the Scots Mining Company shut down at Tyndrum in 1791, a friend of the Earl of Breadalbane wrote
"I suspect there is little chance of Tyndrum ever turning out to profit, even if adventurers can be found to speculate upon it"
Letter written by Mr Campbell of Lochard, dated the 6th of February 1791, quoted by T.C. Smout (1967) in "Lead Mining in Scotland"
Campbell did not know how true his words were. However, many adventurers still tried their luck to mine at Tyndrum over the following decades. They failed, due to the difficulty of mining enough lead to cover the costs of their activities.
One of the strangest examples was in 1838, when the landowner, the 2nd Marquess of Breadalbane, re-opened the mines himself. Over twenty-seven years the mines made a total loss of over £36,500; this would be over 30 million today.
He kept the mines working, despite making a loss, to create jobs for locals. Yet at the same time, he treated staff badly. His German mine managers did not approve of the treatment of the workforce.
"It may look very well on the books, [but] it is only an illusion that a man will work with too low wages"
From letters from S. Rechtendrop and H Odenheimer written in 1847, quoted by T.C. Smout (1967) in "Lead Mining in Scotland"
The German managers believed that he saw the mine as an expensive ornament to show off. He could use it to demonstrate that he was doing something noble for the people who had no jobs on his land.
Check out Corrantee mines and Kirroughtee Lade for more lead mining history.
