Collection: Museum of Lead Mining

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  Today the village of Wanlockhead is a picturesque gem in the centre of an area of great natural beauty. The visitor centre is housed in the old Smiddy, which was still in use in 1900.

  Straitsteps Cottages demonstrates what it was like to live as a miner in the 18th and 19th centuries. One cottage depicts a cottage interior around 1750, the second around 1850 with the third and final cottage at around 1910. The artefacts on show, illustrate how the people of Wanlockhead lived, worked and played.

  The village has existed for over three hundred years. The first miners came to pan for gold and lived in tents through the summer months, but it was impossible to stay in the winter because of the severe weather conditions. By the time the lead mining industry had started the tents were replaced by stone buildings made from local stones and thatched with heather or sods. These buildings mostly consisted of ‘but and ben’ cottages consisting of one room with rushes on the floor and a fire place which was no more than a hole in the wall. The room was ventilated through a hole in the roof which acted as a chimney. Fuel for the fire was peat. The windows did not have any glass in as it was too expensive due to the window tax and the elements were kept at bay by wooden shutters.

  In the 1800’s new mining families moved into the area and they were allowed to build their homes on any free ground they liked. When the Duke of Buccleuch took over the mining operations, housing substantially improved. The houses now had two rooms, the roofs were covered with slate and there was an outside toilet. The windows were fully glazed, but they were small to keep the heat in. Peat fires were replaced by coal by 1809 which was burned in the cooking ranges with a proper chimney.

  Wanlockhead remains an isolated place and many generations of the same families lived and worked here. During the recessions in the lead industry, many of the families left to start new lives in Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and United States.

  The history of Lochnell Mine extends over a period of 150 years and reflects the various changes which took place in winning the lead ore, draining the workings, organising the miners to carry out their activities, and rewarding them for their efforts.

  The origin of the mine goes back to the early years of the Quaker Company which held leases on the lead veins at Wanlockhead from 1710 to 1756. Messrs Crawford & Company succeeded to the Quaker Company’s Lease between 1756 and 1842. They re-opened the trial drifts in 1757 but abandoned them in 1759 because of poor ventilation. This is referred to in the mining records as follows: –

  “August 1758 – Williamson’s Drift on the south end of the Coves vein, was laid on the 30th July last for want of air. The price was £5 per fathom. The small progress made was owing to the miners not having air enough to enable them to work. In place of six pickmen employed formerly, only two pickmen could work and these only on two or three days in the week….”

  The mine was worked for a further 24 years until it finally closed in 1861. By that time the workings had reached a depth of 500 feet below Thomson’s Drift. Again, closure was caused by the failure of the hydraulic pumping engine to cope with the quantity of water entering the workings, and the ore was still putting-down in the vein when the workings were abandoned. The mine environment was dangerous and men worked without the benefits of modern safety methods. Accidents happened frequently.

  Gold and lead miners were free men, unlike coal miners and this allowed them to move around from mine to mine. Men came from different parts of Britain and some even from different European countries. Women were not employed down in these mines, but boys as young as 8 years old were expected to start work. They would work in the streams washing the lead ore in all weather conditions, all year round for 2 pennies a day. By the age of 12 boys could then work in the mine, hauling out the galena in small troughs or sledges.

  The part of the mine, which is open to visitors, is described in terms of the minerals found, the methods used in cutting the rock, winning the ore, ventilating the workings, and transporting men and materials to the surface.

  The atmosphere in the Miners’ Library has to be experienced to fully understand the influence that the books had on the lives of the miners and their families. Only 40 miners’ sons ‘escaped‘ from the mines in the 40 years between 1835 and 1875 and this was due in great part to the Miners’ Library and the books it held. Wanlockhead has given the world many famous ‘sons’ and ‘daughters’, whose first taste of education, was with the books at Wanlockhead Miners’ Library.

  Membership of the Library was a privilege and new members were subjected to a rigorous interrogation by the Librarian before being admitted to membership.

  The library originally started in the school but as the subscription numbers increased and the number of books in stock increased, it was necessary to move the library to a cottage, which was given to them by the mine overseers in 1787. However, the cottage was too small and it was found to be necessary to build a larger building, which came into use in July 1788. As the stock of books rose to over 2,000 again the problem of space forced them to build a new library from subscription money. This was opened in January 1851 and this is the library you can see today. Once the library was fully repaired and the interior environment had stabilised the books were no longer in danger of further deterioration and the collection was returned to the shelves.

  The idea for a Museum was the inspiration of Geoff Downs-Rose, a Mining Engineer, who had business in the Scottish coalfield area in the late 1960s. Fortunately, he visited Wanlockhead and was excited when viewing the remnants of the mining activity that was still evident after some 250 years. Downs-Rose talked to the villagers about preserving and establishing a small a museum to inform the public of the importance of the ore field. Thus in 1974 the cottage at Goldscaur, now an archive centre, was gifted to the nascent museum as a small exhibition and information centre.

  Through the mid-seventies until the end of 1989, considerable industrial archaeological work was undertaken by such entities as Glasgow University. In addition, job, creation schemes were initiated resulting in signed footpaths and the erection of a facsimile of Pates Know smelter on the original site.

  During this time the museum acquired collections, some loaned as the Hunterian minerals and many as outright donations. It became evident that the existing premises were not robust enough to accommodate the growing number of artefacts.

  In early 1990, substantial grants were obtained from the European Community funding resulting in the Museum and Visitor centre as extant today.

  The present Museum is following in the footsteps of Downs-Rose, in acquiring the Village Bowling Club premises that are presently being converted into a study centre. The name of the study centre will be “The DOWNS-ROSE Study Centre “.

  Today the library houses a collection of books which have been Recognised as of National Significance and can be seen as a legacy of the lead miners’ culture and education.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2019

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  The Museum currently has a diverse collection of items including:

  Approximately –

  • 1500 items in the document and photographic archive.
  • 2800 books in the Miners’ Library collection.
  • 230 items of costume and costume jewellery.
  • 100 items relating to craft and community.
  • 400 items relating to geology.
  • 250 items relating to mining and mineral extraction.
  • 50 items relating to smelting and ore preparation.

  Agriculture

  This collection includes approximately 20 items and consists of largely hand tools. There are gaps in this collection; in the dairy and sheep farming areas.

  Archaeology

  This collection includes 18th and 19th century industrial material relating to the mining, smelting and transport of lead. The majority of this collection has been collected on excavations carried out by the Museum over the last 25 years and in a programme of underground exploration.

  Archives

  The archive collection consists of books, bound records, photographs, newspapers and other printed material, maps, plans, manuscripts and ephemera relating to the human and industrial history of Wanlockhead, Leadhills and to lead and metal sites throughout Scotland. There are approximately 1200 items.

  Books

  There are approximately 2800 books in the collection in the Miners’ Library. Books bearing the Miners’ Library book plate will continue to be collected.

  Costume and Costume Accessories

  The costume collection consists of approximately 230 items, of which 76 items are early 20th century costume jewellery. The majority of the costume collection dates from the 19th and early 20th centuries. There are some rare examples of 19th century working costume which were found in the local mines. Also notable is the collection of Ayrshire Whitework and local Muslin Flowering.

  Craft/Industry and Commerce

  There are about 100 items in this collection reflecting local crafts such as thatching, carpentry and smithery. Commerce in the Wanlockhead and Leadhills area is not yet adequately represented in the collection.

  Geology

  The Museum has a mineral collection of about 400 specimens. The majority of the specimens have either been collected in Wanlockhead or Leadhills and are associated with lead. There is a small number of specimens from other lead mining sites in Scotland. There is a good collection of local quartzes, calcites and galena. There is also a good range of sphalerite, pyromorphites, chalcopyrites and barytes on galena. There is a small but representative collection of the rarer lead associated secondary minerals such and leadhillite, witherite, linerite and susannite.

  The Museum intends to maintain a reference collection of mineral specimens on display and a small handling collection for educational purposes will be established.

  Mining and Mineral Extraction

  The collection consists of approximately 250 items, the majority of which are archaeological material recovered locally. There is a representative collection of hand tools and safety equipment from the Wanlockhead mines. A small number of objects relate to mines in Leadhills and other sites in Scotland. Water and air pumping equipment has also been recovered from the Wanlockhead mines, including a rag and chain pump. Approximately 10 objects relate to the extraction of gold from the local streams.

  Smelting and Ore Preparation

  This is a small collection of about 50 objects. It consists of largely excavated material recovered from excavations carried out in Wanlockhead by the Museum at the Pates Knowe smelt mill in 1974, the ore crushing plant at Meadowfoot in 1988, and the lead slimes treatment plant in 1989. There are several items from other lead mining and smelting sites in Scotland, including the ore stamp from Woodhead lead mine in Carsphairn.

  Social History

  This is a large collection of approximately 500 items including a wide variety of material relating to daily life, leisure, religious and educational activity largely associated with the collecting area. There are good collections of certain types of material e.g. curling stones, and society trophies and tokens. With such a wide variety of material covered in this collection, there will always be scope to improve it by further acquisitions.

  Transport

  There are about 100 items in this collection, which can be divided into two areas: material directly relating to transport and haulage in the lead mines, such as tramways, plate rails, small wagons, kibbles and stowes, and material relating to the Wanlockhead-Elvanfoot branchline of the railway. The majority of the material relating to the lead mines is archaeological material collected during underground research and excavation work. There is a good collection of the different rails and chairs used in the local mines, but there are gaps in material relating to other lead mining sites in Scotland.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2019

  Licence: CC BY-NC