Lead mining in Scotland
Major centres of lead mining included Leadhills in South Lanarkshire and nearby, Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway; Beinn Chùirn near Tyndrum; Strontian; Minnigaff near Newton Stewart; Woodhead at Carsphairn; and Islay.
The earliest archival evidence relates to mining at Leadhills and Wanlockhead area at Glengonnar Water and at the "Frier Muir" in a 1239 charter of Newbattle Abbey.
At the end of February 1512, when James IV was at Newhaven trialling his new ship, the Great Michael, he gave 5 shillings as a reward or drinksilver to a man who brought some lead.
Beyond the potential revenue and the use of lead in his projects, James IV was interesting in metallurgy for his gun founding, and in alchemy, through which he hoped to find a universal cure known as the "quinta essentia".
[12] John Carmichael of Meadowflat was Captain of Crawfordmure, and there was a residence at Crawfordjohn Castle, frequently visited by James V and at least once by his wife Mary of Guise.
[13] Lead extraction continued at Crawfurdmure, where a cleric "sir" Charles Forrest looked after two French refiners in 1553 during the rule of Regent Arran.
[16] The Earl of Atholl arranged for Luke Wilson, with James Johnston of Kellobank and Robert Ker, to manage his mining contract with the queen.
Luke Wilson was a prominent Edinburgh burgess who had been tasked in 1561 to organise a pageant and a banquet to celebrate the royal entry of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Barrels containing lead ore for export to Flanders were officially marked with branding irons by the Scottish mint, which was known as the "Cunze Hous".
[17] When Regent Morton ruled Scotland on behalf of the young James VI and I, his half-brother George Douglas of Parkhead was involved in lead mining at Wanlockhead, Glengonnar, and Leadhills in Lanarkshire and in Orkney.
[25] Two weeks later, George Douglas was allowed the tack (a nineteen-year lease) of mines or workings at the Waterhead or Over Glengonar near Leadhills.
Parkhead was encouraged to set his men to work at the mine right away to maximise royal profit (paid in fine silver) in the current tax year.
Much of the lead ore contained a proportion of valuable silver, from which the crown and the Master of Mines hoped to maximise revenue.
In December 1593 complaints were made that George Douglas of Parkhead had extracted far more lead ore than the quota corresponding to the silver duty he had contracted to pay.
[29] Foulis obtained a royal grant to prospect and mine for gold, silver, lead, tin and other metals, in Lanarkshire in April 1594.
[31] Foulis was asked to obtain lead in England to repair the roof of Linlithgow Palace in 1594, during preparations for the baptism of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle.
[36] The mines passed to James Hope of Hopetoun (1614–1661) in 1639 when he married Anna Foulis (died 1656), including the site at Waterhead and Overglengonnar.
It was said that Hope employed many poor people in the works, keeping "mony pure and indigent pepill in the leid mynes and [who] be his meanis had a lyfliehood".
He travelled to meet his commercial contacts and see new technology; visiting and working in the laboratory of a chemist or metallurgist, Frans Rooy, to make assays of ore; meeting a German broker Peter Hexe who was trying to inflate the value of lead ore containing silver; and recruiting lead smelters who worked for Jean Meinershagen of Cologne.
Hope examined furnaces for refining and making copperas at the "White Lead" works, L'ousine ou l'ouvrages de la blanch plumbier, beside the river Vesdre in the Liège Province in April 1646.
Hope returned to Scotland via London, and at Grantham and Stilton he made enquiries about hiring experts from the Derbyshire lead mines.
She managed the family mines and improved facilities at Leith where there was a wind-powered mill for processing the ore.[42] The lead product for export was known as "potter's ore", used for glazing ceramics.
[46] She invested in 1696 as an adventurer in the joint-stock of the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies,[47] and in 1698 began building Hopetoun House near South Queensferry.
[49][50][51] Colonel James Stampfield, Standsfield, or Stansfield,[52] proprietor of a cloth works at New Mills, East Lothian, improved the Straitsteps Mine near Wanlockhead from 1675, with his partners William Blackett and John Lindsay.
Proprietors were naturally secretive about their methods, anxious to protect their commercial advantages, so Kalmeter's and James Hope of Hopetoun's travels can be regarded as early forms of industrial espionage.
Kalmeter drew a diagram of the smelting-hearth method used at Leadhills.The nearby lead mines at Wanlockhead belonged to the Duke of Queensberry.
He visited a lead mine at Castlandhill near Inverkeithing on the lands of the Earl of Morton, owner of nearby Aberdour Castle.
William Wordsworth remarked that the machinery had "made the first step from brute matter to life and purpose", while Coleridge called it "a giant with one idea".
[68] Coleridge later used the memorable formula, "a giant with one idea", developed during their discussion at Wanlockhead,[69] to describe the character of the English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson.
