Wanlockhead
is an old mining village in the parish of Sanquhar. The discovery of lead
around the area is generally attributed to a Dutch gold prospector, Cornelius
de Vois, locally referred to as Cornelius Hardskin (Hardskins was a name give
by locals to foreigners). Vois was active in this area of Scotland at the end
of the 1560's, however records show that mining activity was present as early
as 1512. In these early days, gold and silver was being searched for, usually
by the means of hushing in the hope of exposing any veins. Some native gold was
found and even nuggets have made appearances, but most of what was recovered,
was by panning or sluicing. No native silver was found, and only when lead
mining was started did some recovery of silver occur via the process of
smelting lead ore. Due to the general failure in finding any rich veins, the
area was abandoned at the beginning of the 17th century.
Very little
activity occurred for most of the 17th century, and only in the last two
decades during which Sir James Stansfield and a number of others obtained
leases mines were opened. These operations were on a small scale and it was not
until the last decade that lead mining activities increased. In 1691, Matthew
Wilson obtained a lease until 1710, and successfully worked Margaret's vein
(also know as Straitsteps). During this period smelting lead ore with peat was
introduced. After the end of the lease, the London Lead Company took over the
Wanlockhead mining grounds. Under their control the area expanded into a hive
of mining activity - the result of investment and the introduction of new
technology. Many new levels were driven, "Bab-Gin" pumping engines installed
and a new smelter using coal was built with de-silvering facilities.
In
1723 the London lead Company took out a 'forced' new joint lease with the
Friendly Mining Society, but the partnership was dissolved after 6 years. The
Friendly Mining Society continued to operate until 1735, but its success was
limited and records show that it operated at a loss. Afterwards, Alexander
Telfer took over the mine leases and operated until 1755. Telfer successfully
expanded up on previous companies workings and deepened many of the mines to
new horizons. He installed water powered pumping engines to dewater the deeper
workings.
In 1755, a new company, headed by Ronald Crawford took over
the mines and they operated until 1777. After this, their successors operated
with a succession of renewed leases until 1842, when Marquis of Bute ended up
as the last shareholder. During their time the company proved to be very
successful and they mined all the major veins at Wanlockhead, as well as
discovering new veins they introduced steam powered pumping engines and later
on, water pressure pumping engines. The company proved to be very profitable
for a large part of its tenancy and only in the later years due to a fall in
lead prices did operations see a decline.
When Marquis of Bute's lease
expired in 1842, the then landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch having failed to
find new lessees took over the management of the mines, appointing James Barker
Stuart as manager. Stuart built a new dressing plant and smelt mill as well as
installing new pumping engines and water siphons. In 1870 Thomas Barker Stuart
succeeded his father as manager and continued to improve the mining operations.
By the 1890's the mining activities were starting to decline and major
investment was required, in the early part of the 20th century the Duke
terminated mining operations. Two of the hydraulic engines commission from this
era are still preserved underground in the New Glencrieff workings.
In
1906, two brothers Archiblad and William Fraser took over the leases and formed
the Wanlockhead Lead Mining Company. Employing a talented mine manager, John
Mitchell; the failing operations under the Duke were turned around, and by 1910
the mines output had almost doubled. Mitchell introduced compressed air drills
and more powerful pumping engines, allowing deeper workings, which in turn
opened larger ore bodies at a faster rate than was known before. He also drove
much wider levels and used ponies for getting the ore to the surface. As well
as lead, zinc had started to be mined at this time as well. After John
Mitchells death in 1920, his son, William took over as manager. The mines at
this time were facing difficulties after the 1st World War and the ensuing
depression. However, even with the poor economic climate output of lead was
still very good. Finally in 1934 production ceased and the mines were
closed.
In 1951 a joint venture between Siamese Tin Syndicate Ltd,
Bangrin Tin Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd was formed under the name of Lowland Lead
Mines. The group was interested in operations at the New Glencrieff mine and in
1953 pumping had started to dewater the flooded workings. A year later when
almost a depth of 300m had been drained, underground exploration and mapping
started. Problems were faced by the group, as there was a shortage of labour
and in 1954 Rio Tinto pulled out of the venture. A concentration mill had been
erected at a later date, and over 1600 tonnes of lead concentrated had been
milled. The price of lead fell towards the end of the 1950's and production was
stopped in 1958. The mine closed in 1959. At closure, the reserves were
estimated to be at over 200,000 tonnes of lead ore and a further 110,000 tonnes
of millable stopes, with additional tonnage in surface dumps. In the early
1960's a small venture was started to re-process the old sand lagoons using a
froth floatation plant and this yielded some 3-5% of lead fines. The only other
activities have been the removal of gravels and hard core for large civil
engineering projects.
In the 1980's the local estates granted permission
on behalf of the Wanlockhead Mining Museum for a group of mine explorers headed
by Jeremy Landless to explore the old mine workings. This led to new
understanding of the whole complex and a number of amazing discoveries, the
most prominent being the finding of an intact water pressure pumping engine and
a water pressure winching engine in the New Glencrieff mine. Today most of the
20th century industrial surface remains have been demolished, but the earlier
mine buildings are still standing in various states of decline, with some
having under gone restoration or preservation to stop further delcine. There
are preserved buildings including the famous Wanlockhead Beam Engine at
Straitsteps Mine, Pate Knows Smelter, and the Bay Mine area, which is managed
by the Wanlockhead Mining Museum.
Access to the underground workings is
still possible, but the local estates frown up on it, with most of the mines
being locked, hidden and buried - a shame, as contemporary mine explorers
surely would be able to unearth a vast amount of industrial heritage that is
currently hidden away.
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