Leadhills, originally settled for the accommodation of miners, is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, WSW of Elvanfoot. The population in 1901 was 835. It was originally known as Waterhead.
It is the second highest village in Scotland, the highest being neighbouring Wanlockhead, south. It is near the source of Glengonnar Water, a tributary of the River Clyde.
Local attractions Library The Leadhills Miners' Library (also known as the Allan Ramsay Library or the Leadhills Reading Society), founded in 1741 by 21 miners, the local schoolteacher and the local minister, specifically to purchase a collection of books for its members’ mutual improvementOn his 1841 visit to Leadhills, the statistician and school inspector Joseph Fletcher was so impressed with the Leadhills’ Reading Society that he included its "Articles and Laws" in his report to the Children's Employment Commission (they appear at Fletcher, 1842, pp. 874–878)."The inhabitants [of Leadhills], though chiefly employed in the severe labour of mining, are an enlightened set of people, having a pretty extensive subscription library, and exhibiting a zeal in the acquisition of useful knowledge perfectly astonishing" (Chambers & Chambers (1844), p.701.)—its membership was not restricted to the miners; several non-miners, such as William Symington, John Brown (author of Rab and his Friends) and James Braid, were also full members—houses an extensive antiquarian book collection, local relics, mining records and minerals. The library is the oldest subscription library in the British Isles;Foster & Sheppard (1995), p.41. and is of significant historical and geological importance.
In the late eighteenth century, Peterkin observed the library had "as many valuable books as might be expected to be chosen by promiscuous readers"; he found its members to be "the best informed, and therefore the most reasonable common people that I know" (1799, p. 99); and, in 1823, "J", observing that "every miner can read, and most of them can write tolerably well", noted the library had around 1,200 volumes, all of which "have been entirely chosen by [the members] themselves", and that: As the miners work only six of the twenty-four hours in the mines, and as the barrenness of the soil affords little scope for agricultural pursuits, they have of course abundance of time for reading: and I believe they generally employ it to good purpose; for many of them can converse upon historical, scientific, and theological points so as to astonish a stranger; and even on political questions, they express their opinions with great acuteness and accuracy."J" (1823), p. 27.
Today, the library is owned and run by a registered charity, The Leadhills Heritage Trust and has full accreditation with Museums Galleries Scotland. It is open from Easter to September on weekends and bank holidays, between 2 pm and 5 pm.
Grouse moors Grouse moors cover in excess of around Leadhills. The area covered by the grouse moors has been identified as a location of several wildlife crimes involving raptor persecution.BBC News: Making History (16 May 2017): Police investigate hen harrier shooting near LeadhillsCarluke Gazette (26 June 2017): Police appeal on shooting of owl at Leadhills EstateRSPB Scotland (25 September 2018): Driven grouse moor licensing needed to help end the illegal persecution of birds
Golf course Leadhills Golf Club, instituted in 1891, is the highest in Scotland. The nine-hole course offers a considerable challenge as the winds can be high and unpredictable as they are channelled between the hills.
At one time, there were two courses amalgamated into 18 holes before it was decided to stick with 9 holes on the lower ground and abandon the original course.Fairways! What Fairways? (Page 174), Alfie Ward;
The club was originally known as Leadhills Golf Club prior to World War 1, but it was renamed Lowthers Golf Club following the war, until 1935 when it reverted back to its original name.Lowthers Golf Club, Leadhills, South Lanarkshire. (1888–1930s), Golf's Missing Links
The club as we know it today was founded in 1935. An exhibition game was played as part of the opening ceremony, players included Walker Cup player Leonard Crawley.Leadhills Golf Club, Forgotten Greens of Scotland
The clubhouse was upgraded in 2013 after planning permission was sought from South Lanarkshire Council to build the £17,000 cabin. The previous clubhouse was built in the 1980s.Leadhills Golf Club plans new clubhouse, Glasgow World, 19 April 2013THINGS ARE STARTING TO LOOK ‘ALL-WHITE’ FOR THE FUTURE AT LOWTHER HILLS SKI CLUB, Dumfries & Galloway! What's Going On?, 15 December 2015
Grave of John Taylor The grave of John Taylor is also available to visit in the cemetery. Reputed to be 137 years of age at the time of his death, Taylor's grave (shared with his son, Robert) even attracted the attention of the BBC.BBC Radio 4: Making History (23 November 2004): John Taylor, the ancient lead miner - could he really have been 137?
Scots Mining Company House The Scots Mining Company House was built in 1736 for James Stirling, the managing agent of the Scots Mining Company. It is attributed to the architect William Adam and is now a category A listed building.
Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway runs at weekends only and at Christmas sees the "Santa Express" which includes a ride on the train, a visit to Santa down the lead mine and a story read by "Mrs Kringle" in the Museum of Lead Mining, Wanlockhead. The Elvanfoot railway station was on the Caledonian Railway main line from Glasgow to the south. A branch from there ran through Leadhills to Wanlockhead and operated until 1939. Part of the route has been reused by the Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway. The railway is above sea level.
Lowther Hills Ski Centre The Lowther Hills is one of the birthplaces of Scottish winter sports. Curling in Leadhills can be traced back to 1784, when the Leadhills Curling Club –one of Scotland's first Curling societies- was created. The sport remained popular in the area until the 1930s, when the mines closed.
Since the 1920s skiing in the Leadhills area has been organised intermittently by a succession of local residents as well as several non-for-profit sports clubs. Lowther Hill, above the village, is home to the only ski area in the south of Scotland and Scotland's only community-owned ski centre. Operated by Lowther Hills Ski Club, the ski centre runs three ski lifts for beginners and intermediate skiers.
Business Leadhills is host to a number of small local businesses including shops and a hotel.
Geology
Gold, silver and lead Silver and lead have been mined in Leadhills and at nearby Wanlockhead for many centuries, according to some authorities even in Roman days. Gold was discovered in the reign of James IV and, in those early days, it was so famous for its exceptionally pure gold that the general area was known as "God's Treasure House in Scotland". During the 16th century, before the alluvial gold deposits were exhausted, 300 men worked over three summers and took away some £100,000 of gold (perhaps £500 million today): "Between 1538 and 1542, the district produced 1163 grams of gold for a crown for King James V of Scotland and 992 grams for a crown for his queen. Much of the gold coinage of James V and Mary Queen of Scots was minted from Leadhills gold ... No commercial gold mining appears to have taken place after 1620, but gold washing with a sluice box or pan was later to become a sometimes lucrative pastime of the lead miners" (Gillanders, 1981, pp. 235–236). Gold is still panned in the area with the correct licence.
Minerals The minerals lanarkite, leadhillite, caledonite, susannite, plattnerite, scotlandite, macphersonite, chenite and mattheddleite were first found at Leadhills. The area is renowned among mineralogists and geologists for its wide range of different mineral species found in the veins that lie deep within the (now abandoned) mine shafts;The mines, operated by the Hopetoun family since 1638, finally closed in the 1930s. with some now recognized as unique to the Leadhills area.In fact, "during the first quarter of the 19th century, the Leadhills and Wanlockhead mines were making a significant contribution to the early development of mineralogy" (Gillanders, 1981, p.236). The exceptional range and scope of the extremely rare mineralogical specimens were such that, "so well known had the minerals of Leadhills become during the 1820s that the Scots Mining Company had to make a regulation preventing the miners from disposing of specimens to the growing number of collectors" (p.237). The later routine use of dynamite, rather than gunpowder, "was particularly unfavourable to the collector as many hundreds of valuable specimens that might have been [otherwise] saved were blown to pieces" (p.238).
Leadhills Supergroup The village lends its name to the Leadhills Supergroup, one of the large geological features of the British Isles.
Mining 16th-century mining entrepreneurs working the area were landowners, goldsmiths and metallurgists, granted patents by the monarch and Privy Council. These included, Cornelius de Vos, George Douglas of Parkhead, John Acheson, Eustachius Roche, Thomas Foulis, George Bowes, Bevis Bulmer, and Stephen Atkinson. In 1720 a Dutch traveller, Hugh Kalmeter, described the mine workings and noted that exported ore was used for pottery glazes.Helen & Keith Kelsall, Scottish Lifestyle 300 Years Ago (John Donald: Edinburgh, 1986), p. 56. In the 18th-century lead ore was shipped to Holland and used to make white and red lead paint pigments.Daniel Kemp, Tours in Scotland by Richard Pococke (SHS: Edinburgh, 1887), p. 42.
Working conditions The initial attraction of the Leadhills district was mining. On his visit to the mining area in 1772, the naturalist Thomas Pennant had remarked on its barren landscape: "Nothing can equal the barren and gloomy appearance of the country round [Leadhills]: neither tree nor shrub, nor verdure, nor picturesque rock, appear to amuse the eye..."Pennant (1774), p.129. Three years later, in 1776, artist William Gilpin found that, in relation to the working conditions, "the mines here, as in all mineral countries, are destructive of health", "you see an infirm frame, and squalid looks in most of the inhabitants".Gilpin, 1789, II, p.76; and twelve years later, according to Rev. William Peterkin (1738–1792), the Minister at Leadhills (and member of its library) from 1785 until his death, the conditions of both the miners and the lead smelters were no better: The external appearance of Leadhills is ugly beyond description: rock, short heath, and barren [clay]. Every sort of vegetable is with difficulty raised and seldom comes to perfection. Spring water there is perhaps as fine as any in the world: but, the water below the smelting-[mills], is the most dangerous. The lead before smelting is broken very small and washed from extraneous matter. It contains frequently arsenic, sulphur, zinc, etc. which poisons the water in which it is washed. Fowls of any kind will not live many days at Leadhills. They pick up arsenical particles with their food, which, soon kills, them. Horses, cows, dogs, cats, are liable to the lead-brash.Lead-brash: literally, "lead-sickness". It was a most horrible form of lead poisoning, and the term lead-brash specifically referred to a condition in animals. A cat, when seized with that distemper, springs like lightning through every corner of the house, falls into convulsions and dies. A dog falls into strong convulsions also but sometimes recovers. A cow grows perfectly mad in an instant and must be immediately killed. Fortunately, this distemper does not affect the human species.Peterkin, 1799, pp. 98–99. As Pennant had noted in 1772, the human counterpart of the animals' lead-brash was "mill-reek":