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Leadhills,remains of lead mining and smelting

A Scheduled Monument in Clydesdale East, South Lanarkshire

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Coordinates

Latitude: 55.4096 / 55°24'34"N

Longitude: -3.7707 / 3°46'14"W

OS Eastings: 287987

OS Northings: 614277

OS Grid: NS879142

Mapcode National: GBR 253W.FM

Mapcode Global: WH5TX.19P8

Entry Name: Leadhills,remains of lead mining and smelting

Scheduled Date: 30 November 1993

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Source ID: SM5817

Schedule Class: Cultural

Category: Industrial: mines, quarries

Location: Crawford

County: South Lanarkshire

Electoral Ward: Clydesdale East

Traditional County: Lanarkshire

Description

The monument consists of the principal remains of lead working in the Leadhills area. The remains comprise shafts, spoil heaps, hushes (gullies caused by hydraulic extraction of ore) and a smelter, together with associated tracks, tramways, water courses and remains of buildings. The underground workings associated with the above-ground remains are also included.

The principal mines in the area are the Glengonnar Mine, the last in Leadhills to be worked, and workings on the Susanna, Humby and Gripps veins. The area to be scheduled is approximately 4200m long N-S and at its widest about 1800m wide. It includes the visible remains of working

and an area around in which traces of activities associated with mining, transport of ore and smelting may survive, as marked in red on the accompanying map.

Post-1950 buildings, together with all fences, track and road surfaces, and the permanent way (but not the cuttings, earthworks and associated structures) of the Lowthers Light Railway are excluded from the scheduling.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The area to be scheduled is of national importance because it contains most of the surviving remains of the metal mines with the longest history of continuous working in Scotland. Mining was certainly carried out here from the 16th century, and probably much earlier and was particularly active from the 17th to the early 20th century. Though many of the structures associated with the working of lead ore and its smelting were demolished during the Second World War, the surviving remains, above and below ground, are of the highest importance for the archaeology of metalliferous mining in Scotland. The only comparable remains are those nearby at Wanlockhead, subject of a separate scheduling proposal.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography
No Bibliography entries for this designation

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Other nearby scheduled monuments

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