16th-century mining entrepreneurs working the area were landowners, goldsmiths and metallurgists, granted patents by the monarch and
Privy Council. These included,
Cornelius de Vos,
George Douglas of Parkhead,
John Acheson,
Eustachius Roche,
Thomas Foulis,
George Bowes,
Bevis Bulmer, and
Stephen Atkinson. In 1720 a Dutch traveller, Hugh Kalmeter, described the mine workings and noted that exported ore was used for pottery glazes. In the 18th-century lead ore was shipped to Holland and used to make
white and
red lead paint pigments.
Working conditions The initial attraction of the Leadhills district was mining. On his visit to the mining area in 1772, the naturalist
Thomas Pennant had remarked on its barren landscape: : "Nothing can equal the barren and gloomy appearance of the country round [Leadhills]: neither tree nor shrub, nor verdure, nor picturesque rock, appear to amuse the eye..." Three years later, in 1776, artist
William Gilpin found that, in relation to the working conditions, "the mines here, as in all mineral countries, are destructive of health", "you see an infirm frame, and squalid looks in most of the inhabitants". and twelve years later, according to Rev. William Peterkin (1738–1792), the Minister at Leadhills (and member of its library) from 1785 until his death, the conditions of both the miners and the lead smelters were no better: :The external appearance of Leadhills is ugly beyond description: rock, short heath, and barren [clay]. Every sort of vegetable is with difficulty raised and seldom comes to perfection. Spring water there is perhaps as fine as any in the world: but, the water below the smelting-[mills], is the most dangerous. The lead before smelting is broken very small and washed from extraneous matter. It contains frequently arsenic, sulphur, zinc, etc. which poisons the water in which it is washed. Fowls of any kind will not live many days at Leadhills. They pick up arsenical particles with their food, which, soon kills, them. Horses, cows, dogs, cats, are liable to the lead-brash. A cat, when seized with that distemper, springs like lightning through every corner of the house, falls into convulsions and dies. A dog falls into strong convulsions also but sometimes recovers. A cow grows perfectly mad in an instant and must be immediately killed. Fortunately, this distemper does not affect the human species. As Pennant had noted in 1772, the human counterpart of the animals'
lead-brash was "mill-reek": :The miners and smelters are subject here, as in other places, to the lead distemper, or
mill-reek, as it is called here; which brings on palsies, and sometimes madness, terminating in death in about ten days. However, because lead was attracting such high prices during the American and Napoleonic Wars, and the domestic construction boom, Leadhills became world-famous for its lead mines. In a paper reporting on the treatment of a particular case of
hydrothorax, published in 1823, James Braid commented that, given all of the theoretically possible causes, with his numerous Leadhills hydrothorax patients, "[those who] have been exposed to breathe noxious or confined air" were by far the majority: :[At Leadhills] the miners must sometimes work in places where there is so little circulation of air, that their candles can scarcely burn; and I have almost invariably observed, that a continuance for any considerable length of time, (although in such situations they may only work three or four hours daily), brings on pneumonia in the young and plethoric, and hydrothorax in the old, if rather of spare habit of body; and if there should happen to be any healthy middle-aged men working as hand-neighbours to these others, although of course both must breath[e] the same impure air, these middle-aged men will remain free from any
urgent complaint, till both their young and their aged neighbours are laid aside, perhaps never more to return. I became so fully convinced of this fact, as long ago to have induced me to recommend to the agents and overseers of this place, to avoid, as much as possible, putting thither very young or very old men into such situations.
"Partnerships" Like many metalliferous miners in other parts of the British Isles in the early 1800s, Leadhills miners did not work for daily wages; in fact, Leadhills miners lived rent-free, working no more than six hours in any one day and, significantly, had no fixed working hours. At Leadhills, each miner belonged to an autonomous group of up to 12 (a "
partnership"), who were paid collectively: on the basis of a contract (a "
bargain") struck between one partner (the "
taker") and the mining company, to
perform a specific task for an agreed payment—in other words, the miners were paid for their results; not for the time they spent underground. There were two types of bargain: • "
tut-" or "
fathom work": work with no immediate return—such as sinking shafts, driving levels, making excavations, etc.—for a
specified "length", usually 12, 15, or 20
fathoms, for a
fixed amount. • "
tribute work": raising the ore to the surface—where the miners took all the ore from a specific location and were paid according to the total weight of the ore, at • (a) a set rate per
bing (thus, a "
bingtale"), or • (b) according to the tonnage of smelted lead that ore had produced (thus, a "
tontale"). The individual miner's family also contributed; the sons worked on the uncovered washing platforms (exposed to the elements in all weathers) washing the impurities from the ore prior to smelting, and the wives and daughters spun wool and embroidered muslin for sale in Glasgow. The partners supplied their own tools; and were responsible for their upkeep. Many important responsibilities lay with the partners; thus, for instance, only two overseers were needed to manage more than 200 Leadhills’ miners. In the absence of an overseer's constant and immediate personal supervision, the partners were totally responsible for their collective work practices and occupational safety; thus, the partners, rather than overseers, would decide how to act against threats posed by subterranean water, loose ground, earth tremors, etc. However, with no overseer, there was also no oversight; and, often, hastily constructed passages/shafts were misaligned with those of other teams, affecting the structure of the entire mine—also, the disposal of waste and rubbish from one team's work area often impeded the progress of another team (or teams).
Steam engines Coal-fired steam engines, were an important part of the operation at Leadhills. Leadhills had three steam engines as early as 1778 (Smout, 1967, p. 106). In the winter of 1765,
James Watt had been approached to design and build a steam engine for Leadhills that would raise water from 30 fathoms (approx. 55 m) below the surface. Watt did not get the contract (Hills, 1998).
1817 mining accident According to his later report (Braid, 1817), at 7:00am on 1 March 1817, the mine's surgeon, James Braid, was called urgently to the mine to alleviate the distress of a number of miners who appeared to be suffocated. It was later established that noxious fumes from the faulty chimney of a coal-fired steam engine, operating deep within the mine, had combined with a dense fog pervading the entire area. The contaminated air was lethal. Two men, in the hope of finishing early, and contrary to established Leadhills custom, had entered the mine before 4am; another two, presumably from the same partnership, entered soon after. Reaching their work level (at 25 fathoms) the first two encountered the bad air. They persisted, thinking they could force their way through it, began to feel dizzy, collapsed, and eventually suffocated. The next two encountered a similar fate. The accident was not discovered until some time after 6am; by which time all of the four men were dead. To aid those at the 25-fathom level, who were beginning to become violently affected by the fumes, a trap-door was opened to help clear the air; however, the noxious fumes descended rapidly, and another three men, at the 80-fathom level, suffocated. The other miners, many of whom were affected to a considerable degree, were restored by Braid as they emerged from the mine. == Cemetery ==