Leadhills Mining
Lead mining gave the village its name –and its prosperity - but gold has also been found nearby.
Leadhills is a geologists delight. Over seventy different minerals can be found in the area surrounding Leadhills, some rare and only found nearby.
Gold panning takes place in all the burns around Leadhills and tips and instructions can be gained from local experts.
Leadhills is located high in the beautiful Lowther Hills and was founded on lead mining. It is Scotland's second highest village (after nearby Wanlockhead) lying at a height of 395m or 1295ft.
Leadhills Railway
The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway is a must for all the family.
Have fun on Britain's highest adhesion railway almost 1500 feet above sea level. Enjoy a journey on the narrow gauge railway which operates from Leadhills to Wanlockhead.
This is a 2ft narrow gauge railway built along part of the trackbed of the old Caledonian Railway. It is now operated by a dedicated band of volunteers.
Leadhills Golf Course
The Leadhills Golf Course is a 'must' for every golfing enthusiast to ensure you have played the highest golf course in Britain situated at 1500 ft/456m above sea level.
For the historian, the Leadhills Miners Library is the oldest subscription library in the UK, and was founded in 1741 when twenty three miners clubbed together to set up the Leadhills Reading Society.
The small museum displays books from the Leadhills Reading Society's library and material relating to the use of the library and to the lives of its subscribers.
Families should also visit the Scots Mining House which is probably the only surviving small house that William Adam built and have a tea, coffee and home baking, and browse through local crafts and gifts on a Saturday afternoon.
The family can also explore the Lowther hills from Leadhills and have fun rambling or climbing whatever takes your fancy. The views are well worth the walk and stop over in the Hopetoun Arms Hotel to relax and enjoy a glass of wine or a cup of coffee in front of the open fire.
The Hopetoun Arms is a family run hotel offering accommodation, food drink, teas and coffees and a warm welcome at all times.
A Brief History of Leadhills
Lead was mined in Leadhills from the 1100s, and around 1500 the village also had a gold mine from which nuggets as large as 60g were extracted.
By the 1660s the lead mines were owned by Sir John Hope, and profitable enough to justify building or improving roads the full 50 miles to Leith, to allow the ore to be exported.
The coming of the railway in 1901 was not enough to return the mines in the area to profitability, and mining activity in Leadhills ceased in 1928.
The end of mining could have resulted in the loss of the village but Leadhills' freehold ownership of much of the land by the occupants ensured the community survived and today the population is on the increase, with many young families making the village their home.
The village has an active life and many amenities which include churches, school, and the Hopetoun Arms Hotel which serves bar meals and take away food.
As one of 'Scotland's high places' Leadhills is ideally placed for touring Glasgow, Edinburgh, Loch Lomond and the coast, little more than an hours drive away.
Leadhills has a number of unique claims to fame. In 1741 it became home to the UK's oldest subscription library when 23 lead miners clubbed together to set up the Leadhills Reading Society. Membership was not cheap by the standards of the day, with a joining fee of £0.15 and an annual subscription of £0.10.
This was an innovation picked up by other communities nearby including Wanlockhead and today the Library holds an excellent collection of books from its early years.
Famous faces from Leadhills
Allan Ramsay (1686 - 1758) - born in Leadhills in 1686 to John Ramsay and Alice Bower. His father was a superintendent of Lord Hopetoun's lead-mines. He went to school in Crawford becoming apprentice to an Edinburgh wigmaker in 1701. In 1712 he married Christian Ross after becoming comfortable in his profession as a wigmaker. Together, Ross and Ramsay had six children the eldest of whom was Allan Ramsay, the famous Edinburgh portrait painter. Around 1718 Ramsay turned his business into that of bookselling, from wig-making. After a few successful writing and publishing ventures, in 1722 Ramsay collected together his own poems, which was issued by subscription.
A few years later Ramsay moved to Luckenbooths and opened the first circulating library in Scotland, and in turn, extended his business as a bookseller. By this time Ramsay had published a few shorter poems and issued the first parts of The Tea-Table Miscellany and The Ever Green (1724-1727), the first of which was a collection of both Scots and English songs and the latter being a collection of poems in Scots written by various poets before 1600. Ramsay hoped to reignite and interest in older Scottish literature and poetry. In 1725 he produced the work he is most famous for, The Gentle Shepherd, a dramatic pastoral which was hugely successful and was performed in Edinburgh theatres.