Wanlockhead is a village in
Dumfries and Galloway
Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...
, Scotland, nestling in the
Lowther Hills
The Lowther Hills, also sometimes known as the Lowthers, are an extensive area of hill country in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, though some sub-ranges of hills in this area also go under their own local names – see "Hillwalking" below. They ...
and south of
Leadhills
Leadhills, originally settled for the accommodation of miners, is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, WSW of Elvanfoot. The population in 1901 was 835. It was originally known as Waterhead.
It is the second highest village in Scotland, ...
at the head of the Mennock Pass, which forms part of the Southern Uplands. It is Scotland's highest village,
the village centre being at an elevation of around above sea level.
Some sources, including
VisitScotland
VisitScotland, formerly the Scottish Tourist Board (), is a national tourism organisation for Scotland. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government, with offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and ...
,
cite an altitude of but the highest house in the village has been measured at .
The village can be accessed via the
B797, which connects it to the
A76 near
Sanquhar
Sanquhar (, ) is a town on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh.
It is notable for its tiny post office, established in 1712 and considered the oldest working p ...
and the
A74(M) motorway at
Abington.
History
Wanlockhead takes its name from the Wanlock Water, a stream which rises in the remote hollow which forms the setting of the village.
The village owes its existence to the
lead
Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
and other
mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...
deposits found in the surrounding hills. These deposits were first exploited by the
Romans, and from the 13th century they began to be worked again in the summer. The village was founded permanently in 1680 when the
Duke of Buccleuch
Duke of Buccleuch ( ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, and second ''suo jure'' for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Countess of ...
built a lead
smelting
Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron-making, iron, copper extraction, copper ...
plant and workers' cottages.
Lead
Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
,
zinc
Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...
,
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
and
silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
were mined nearby, as well as some of the world's purest
gold
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
at 22.8
carats, which was used to make the
Scottish Crown. Early gold miners included
Cornelius de Vos
Cornelius de Vos or de Vois or Devosse (fl. 1565-1585), was a Dutch or Flemish mine entrepreneur and mineral prospector working in England and Scotland. He was said to have been a "picture-maker" or portrait artist. De Vos is known for gold mini ...
,
George Bowes, and
Bevis Bulmer
Sir Bevis Bulmer (1536–1615) was an English mining engineer during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. He has been called "one of the great speculators of that era". Many of the events in his career were recorded by Stephen Atkinson in ''Th ...
. Wanlockhead became known as "God's treasure house" from the richness of its mineral resources.
Despite a branch railway (see
Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway
The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway is a narrow gauge railway in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is laid on the trackbed of the former Leadhills and Wanlockhead Branch of the Caledonian Railway which led off the main line between and Glasg ...
), also the highest in Scotland, which served the village from 1901 to 1939, lead mining declined in the 20th century and finished in the 1950s. From 1850 the
Glasgow and South Western Railway
The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was the third biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle, Cumbria, Ca ...
had provided sidings at
Mennock Lye Goods Depot for the use of the Wanlockhead and Leadhills mines.
The village had a curling club which was formed in 1777 and there were also
quoits
Quoits ( or ) is a traditional game which involves the throwing of metal, rope or rubber rings over a set distance, usually to land over or near a spike (sometimes called a hob, mott or pin). The game of quoits encompasses several distinct vari ...
, bowling clubs, a drama group and a silver band which had instruments purchased for them by the Duke of Buccleuch.
William Symington
William Symington (1764–1831) was a Scottish engineer and inventor during the Georgian era. He is most well known as the builder of the first practical steamboat, the Charlotte Dundas. The engine has been described as ''"without doubt the mo ...
was from Leadhills, but lived and worked in Wanlockhead. His fame lies in the fact that he designed the engine used to power the world's first steamboat. This boat was successfully tested on Dalswinton Loch near
Ellisland on 14 October 1788. Dalswinton was the home of Robert Burns's landlord, Patrick Miller.
Robert Burns
Robert Burns and an associate, Thomas Sloan, visited Wanlockhead in the winter of 1789–90. The weather was very icy and they decided to have their horses' shoes 'frosted', that is sharpened to increase the grip. They had to wait their turn and took shelter at Ramage's Inn, where Burns wrote a poem entitled ''Pegasus at Wanlockhead''. Pegasus was the name of Burns' horse.
Burns also visited Wanlockhead in January 1792 to explore the lead mines. He was accompanied by
Maria Riddell, the sister of
Robert Riddell
Captain Robert Riddell (1755–1794), Laird of Friar's Carse, near Dumfries.
A friend of Robert Burns, who made him a collection of his poems which later became famous, and wrote a poem 'Sonnet On The Death Of Robert Riddell' in memory of him ...
of
Friar's Carse
Friars' Carse is a mansion house and estate situated (NX 926 850) southeast of Auldgirth on the main road (A76) to Dumfries, Parish of Dunscore, Scotland. The property is located on the west bank of the River Nith and is known for its strong as ...
. They breakfasted at Sanquhar and then took a
post chaise
A post-chaise is a travelling carriage operated in the 18th and early 19th centuries, travelling from post-to-post, and changing horses at each stage. With a closed body on four wheels, seating two people, and drawn by two or four horses, it i ...
to the mines. They went a considerable distance into the mines, braving the dark, wet and cramped conditions at first; however they had to turn back as Burns found the poor air very distressing. Burns did not record this visit, but Maria included the details in a letter.
Geography
Climate
Wanlockhead has a moist
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
(''Cfb'', according to the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
), with cool to chilly weather throughout the year, bordering on a
subpolar oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring co ...
(''Cfc'', according Köppen). This town has cool summers and chilly winters, with snowfalls. It is one of the coldest inhabited places in the United Kingdom.
Facilities
The village now features a lead mining museum and industrial equipment from the 18th century and is a popular
tourist destination
A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement.
Types
Places of natural beau ...
.
Wanlockhead is on the
Southern Upland Way, a walking trail that traditionally starts at
Portpatrick
Portpatrick is a village and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in the historical county of Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the west coast of the Rhins of Galloway. The parish is about in length and in br ...
on the west coast, in Dumfries & Galloway, and finishes some away at
Cockburnspath
Cockburnspath ( ) is a village in Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders. It lies near the North Sea coast between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Dunbar. Cockburnspath is the eastern terminus of the Southern Upland Way as well as the northern terminus of ...
on the east coast, in the Scottish Borders.
The village is also the home of the highest pub in Scotland, the Wanlockhead Inn, which opened in 2003; an earlier pub on a track rising from the other side of the main road through the village was considerably higher, but closed in the late 1990s.
The village is the setting for the
BBC television drama
BBC television dramas have been produced and broadcast since even before the public service company had an officially established television broadcasting network in the United Kingdom. As with any major broadcast network, drama forms an importa ...
series ''
Hope Springs''.
Wanlockhead library
Wanlockhead Miners' Library is the second-oldest subscription library in Great Britain and was established on 1 November 1756 with 32 male members who mainly funded the purchase of the books, etc.; a contribution was also made by mining companies who were keen to encourage such acts of 'self-improvement' amongst the miners. The Duke of Buccleuch, as the land owner, was a major patron of the library. The library was essential in facilitating a level of educational achievement that allowed some miners and their children to escape the toil of mine work.
The school housed the library at first, but as the number of books increased, it became necessary in 1787 to move the library to a cottage given for this express purpose by the mine overseers. However the cottage was a small one and it was found to be necessary to construct a larger building. The number of books purchased through subscription eventually rose to over 2,000 and in 1851 a new library was built and survives to this day. In 1974 the Wanlockhead Museum Trust took over the running of the library.
The Miners' Library became a
Recognised Collection of National Significance in October 2007.
Meadowfoot cemetery
This lies approximately from the village and dates from 1751. Before Wanlockhead had its own graveyard, coffins had to be transported along a typical
corpse road
Corpse roads provided a practical means for transporting corpses, often from remote communities, to cemetery, cemeteries that had burial rights, such as parish churches and chapel of ease, chapels of ease. In Britain, such routes can also be know ...
the 8 miles (13 km) to the nearest graveyard, which was at
Sanquhar
Sanquhar (, ) is a town on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh.
It is notable for its tiny post office, established in 1712 and considered the oldest working p ...
. William Philip Minder who died on 2 April 1751 aged just 10 months was the first burial at the newly opened burial site.
Beam engine

The
beam engine
A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead Beam (structure), beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used b ...
and water bucket
pumps
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy.
Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of applications such ...
were introduced into Wanlockhead in 1745. The history on the beam engine is not certain, but accounts of similar engines have been recorded on a coal mine at
Canonbie
Canonbie () is a small village in Dumfriesshire within the local authority area of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland, south of Langholm and north of the Anglo-Scottish border. It is on the A7 road from Carlisle to Edinburgh, and the Riv ...
, Dumfriesshire, in the 1790s. The Wanlockhead Beam Engine was built, supposedly, in the middle of the 19th century and is the only lasting example of a water bucket pumping engine to be seen on a mine in the UK today.
The beam engine allowed miners to continue working in the Straitsteps mine, and assuming that there were two strokes of the beam per minute, this engine would have been able to lift around and requiring little attention it would have been left to do this twenty-four hours a day. The wooden bucket was fed from a cistern above and once the weight of water was greater than the water above the pump piston the beam was lifted, carrying water from up to below ground into a wood lined culvert which carried it off to the nearby burn. Periodically the weight of the piston was adjusted so that it remained heavier than the empty bucket, ensuring that the beam fell to start the cycle again.
The Secretary of State for Scotland in 1972 took on the guardianship of the beam engine, making it Scotland's third Industrial Monument.
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...
owns and maintains the engine. A working model of the engine is located in the Museum of Scottish Lead Mining.
Lowther Hills Ski Centre
Wanlockhead is one of the birthplaces of Scottish winter sports.
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...
in Wanlockhead can be traced back to 1777, when the Wanlockhead Curling Society –one of Scotland's first Curling societies- was created. Scotland's first boys' Curling club was established in Wanlockhead in 1883. The sport remained popular in the area until the 1930s, when the mines closed.
Since the 1920s
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...
in the Wanlockhead area has been organised intermittently by a succession of local residents as well as several non-for-profit sports clubs. Lowther Hill, above the village, is home to the only ski area in the south of Scotland, and Scotland's only community-owned ski centre. Operated by Lowther Hills Ski Club, the ski centre runs three ski lifts above the villages of Leadhills and Wanlockhead for beginners and intermediate skiers.
See also
*
List of places in Dumfries and Galloway
This List of places in Dumfries and Galloway is a list of links for any town, village, hamlet (place), hamlet in the historic counties of Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfriesshire and Wigtownshire within the Dumfries and Galloway Council areas of Scotland ...
*
Enterkinfoot and the Enterkin Pass
Enterkinfoot is a small village or hamlet which lies north of Thornhill on the A76 on the route to Sanquhar, in Dumfriesshire, Durisdeer Parish, in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Its original nucleus was the old mill with associat ...
*
Mennock
*
Allenheads – an upland
lead mining
Lead () is a chemical element; it has symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, lead ...
village in
Northumberland
Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...
that is above sea-level
References
Sources
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External links
The Lordship & Barony of Kilmarnock - photographs of WanlockheadLowther Hills Ski Centre
{{authority control
Villages in Dumfries and Galloway
Mining communities in Scotland
Lead mines in the United Kingdom