Leadhills

Leadhills is a Village in south Scotland, 33 miles north of Dumfries, 1 mile northeast of Wanlockhead.

Leadhills is the second highest Village in Scotland at 1,460ft, popular for its Railway Heritage Station, only Wanlockhead is higher at 1,531ft. The two Villages are normally visited at the same time with Wanlockhead having a popular Lead Mining Museum and Gold Panning.

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The image top is of the Main Street from the west on the road up through the Mennock Hills and Wanlockhead from the A76 road from Dumfries. You can also take the road from the east off the M74 / M6.

The Leadhills Gift Shop is on the west side of the Main Street that specializes in mining bears, with a little bear railway. Website.

Leadhills Lowther Parish Church is also on the Main Street. Built in 1883, the main Church in the area after Wanlockhead Church closed in the 1960s? Leadhills Church was put up for sale in 2017 to be converted to a house.

Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway is on the outskirts of the Village. This is Britain's highest narrow gauge adhesion Railway, at 1,498 feet above sea level. The Railway is now run by volunteers on weekends in summer for tourist trips.

The War Memorial is in the Village centre by the Hotel and Shop.

The Hopetoun Arms Hotel is in the village centre, highest residential hotel in Scotland, at 1,297ft above sea level.

The Leadhills Hall is in the village centre, used for many community events throughout the year.

The Leadhills Curfew Bell is next to the hall, built in 1770 by the Scots Mining Company to inform workers of shift changes and accidents in the mine.

The Symington Monument is next to the Graveyard, built in 1891 in honour of William Symington (1764 - 1831) inventor of steam navigation.

The Grave of John Taylor is in the Cemetery. Taylor was said to have been 137 years old at the time of his death.

The Road west leads to Wanlockhead then down through the Mennock Pass to Sanquhar and Dumfries, one of the most scenic roads in Scotland.

The Crawick Multiverse huge Art Landscape is at Sanquhar, 11 miles west via the Mennock Pass, one of the top Attractions in Scotland.

Leadhills is in South Lanark, but with it being on the west side of the M74 / M6, it feels more like it is in Dumfries & Galloway.

Leadhills History

100s - the Romans mined Lead and other minerals in this area as they tried to take control of Scotland.

1239 - Lead was mined here in low scale by the Monks of Newbattle Abbey 47 miles northeast by Edinburgh.

1570s - Thomas Foulis, a Goldsmith from Edinburgh, began working the Mines in a larger scale.

The Mines produced Lead, Zinc, Copper, Silver and Gold with a number of Mining Companies working in the area under licence.

1638 - one of the Mines was taken over by the Hope family from the vast Hopetoun House mansion at South Queensferry by Edinburgh.

1686 - the poet Allan Ramsay was born in Leadhills.

1735 - a small Mansion known as the Scots Mining Company House was built for James Stirling, manager of the Scots Mining Company.

1741 - Stirling founded the Leadhills Library, first circulating and working class Library in Britain.

1770 - the Curfew Bell was erected after the death of James Stirling that year. The Bell was used for Shift Changes and Accidents in the Mines.

1770 - a Miner named John Taylor died at Leadhills aged 133 years. He was born in Alston in Cumbria in 1637, buried in the Graveyard at Leadhills.

1830s - the Mines started to decline.

1861 - the Leadhills Mining Company took over all the Mines.

1891 - the Leadhills Golf Course opens as the highest in Scotland.

1891 - the Symington Monument was completed next to the Graveyard in honour of William Symington (1764 - 1831) inventor of Steam Navigation.

1901 - the Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway was opened becoming the highest in Scotland. The Railway connected to the main Carlisle line.

1929 - the Leadhills Mines closed after the last of the veins at 450ft deep began to run out, becoming unprofitable.

1939 - the Railway closed, leaving just a short section as a Working Railway Museum.

Today - the Leadhills has a population of about 300, in 1772 it had a population of over 1,500.