Лидхиллс: Шотландская деревня шахтеров и старейшая библиотека Британских островов.

Village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland

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, the highest being neighbouring Wanlockhead, 2 mile (3 km) south. It is near the source of Glengonnar Water, a tributary of the River Clyde.

The Leadhills Miners' Library (also known as the Allan Ramsay Library or the Leadhills Reading Society), founded in 1741 by 21 miners, the local schoolteacher and the local minister, specifically to purchase a collection of books for its members’ mutual improvement — its membership was not restricted to the miners; several non miners, such as William Symington, John Brown (author of Rab and his Friends) and James Braid, were also full members — houses an extensive antiquarian book collection, local relics, mining records and minerals. The library is the oldest subscription library in the British Isles; and is of significant historical and geological importance. In the late eighteenth century, Peterkin observed the library had "as many valuable books as might be expected to be chosen by promiscuous readers"; he found its members to be "the best informed, and therefore the most reasonable common people that I know" (1799, p. 99); and, in 1823, "J", observing that "every miner can read, and most of them can write tolerably well", noted the library had around 1,200 volumes, all of which "have been entirely chosen by [the members] themselves", and that:
As the miners work only six of the twenty four hours in the mines, and as the barrenness of the soil affords little scope for agricultural pursuits, they have of course abundance of time for reading: and I believe they generally employ it to good purpose; for many of them can converse upon historical, scientific, and theological points so as to astonish a stranger; and even on political questions, they express their opinions with great acuteness and accuracy. Today, the library is owned and run by a registered charity, The Leadhills Heritage Trust and has full accreditation with Museums Galleries Scotland. It is open from Easter to September on weekends and bank holidays, between 2 pm and 5 pm.

Grouse moors cover in excess of around Leadhills. The area covered by the grouse moors has been identified as a location of several wildlife crimes involving raptor persecution.

Leadhills Golf Club, instituted in 1891, is the highest in Scotland. The nine hole course offers a considerable challenge as the winds can be high and unpredictable as they are channelled between the hills. At one time, there were two courses amalgamated into 18 holes before it was decided to stick with 9 holes on the lower ground and abandon the original course. The club was originally known as Leadhills Golf Club prior to World War 1, but it was renamed Lowthers Golf Club following the war, until 1935 when it reverted back to its original name. The club as we know it today was founded in 1935. An exhibition game was played as part of the opening ceremony, players included Walker Cup player Leonard Crawley. The clubhouse was upgraded in 2013 after planning permission was sought from South Lanarkshire Council to build the £17,000 cabin. The previous clubhouse was built in the 1980s.

The grave of John Taylor is also available to visit in the cemetery. Reputed to be 137 years of age at the time of his death, Taylor's grave (shared with his son, Robert) even attracted the attention of the BBC.

The Scots Mining Company House was built in 1736 for James Stirling, the managing agent of the Scots Mining Company. It is attributed to the architect William Adam and is now a category A listed building.

The Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway runs at weekends only and at Christmas sees the "Santa Express" which includes a ride on the train, a visit to Santa down the lead mine and a story read by "Mrs Kringle" in the Museum of Lead Mining, Wanlockhead. The Elvanfoot railway station was on the Caledonian Railway main line from Glasgow to the south. A branch from there ran through Leadhills to Wanlockhead and operated until 1939. Part of the route has been reused by the Leadhills & Wanlockhead Railway. The railway is 1498 feet (457 m) above sea level.

The Lowther Hills is one of the birthplaces of Scottish winter sports. Curling in Leadhills can be traced back to 1784, when the Leadhills Curling Club –one of Scotland's first Curling societies was created. The sport remained popular in the area until the 1930s, when the mines closed. Since the 1920s skiing in the Leadhills 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 for beginners and intermediate skiers.

Leadhills is host to a number of small local businesses including shops and a hotel.

Silver and lead have been mined in Leadhills and at nearby Wanlockhead for many centuries, according to some authorities even in Roman days. Gold was discovered in the reign of James IV and, in those early days, it was so famous for its exceptionally pure gold that the general area was known as "God's Treasure House in Scotland". During the 16th century, before the alluvial gold deposits were exhausted, 300 men worked over three summers and took away some £100,000 of gold (perhaps £500 million today): "Between 1538 and 1542, the district produced 1163 grams of gold for a crown for King James V of Scotland and 992 grams for a crown for his queen. Much of the gold coinage of James V and Mary Queen of Scots was minted from Leadhills gold No commercial gold mining appears to have taken place after 1620, but gold washing with a sluice box or pan was later to become a sometimes lucrative pastime of the lead miners" (Gillanders, 1981, pp. 235–236). Gold is still panned in the area with the correct licence.

The minerals lanarkite, leadhillite, caledonite, susannite, plattnerite, scotlandite, macphersonite, chenite and mattheddleite were first found at Leadhills. The area is renowned amongst mineralogists and geologists for its wide range of different mineral species found in the veins that lie deep within the (now abandoned) mine shafts; with some now recognized as unique to the Leadhills area.

The village lends its name to the Leadhills Supergroup, one of the large geological features of the British Isles.

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.

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).

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, unfortunately, 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.

The cemetery at the northeast of the village features an unusual table stone inscription (next to the southern wall) detailing, almost as an afterthought, 137 years as the age at death of John Taylor, the father of Robert Taylor, (then) overseer of the Scotch Mining Company. Near to the cemetery overlooking a row of miners' cottages is an 1891memorial in obelisk form was erected to William Symington, by public subscription, where he was born.

Allan Ramsay, the poet, and William Symington (1763–1831), one of the earliest adaptors of the steam engine to the purposes of navigation, were born at Leadhills. The famous mathematician James Stirling was employed by the Scots Mining Company at Leadhills from 1734 until 1770. James Braid, the (later) discoverer of hypnotism, was surgeon to the Leadhills mining community and to Lord Hopetoun's lead and silver mines from early 1816 to late 1825. Edward Whigham, Provost of Sanquhar and friend of Robert Burns was born in Leadhills.

Leadhills experiences a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc). Due to its elevation and inland position, winters are colder and summers cooler than lower lying areas. In terms of the local climate profile, given its elevated position and latitude, Leadhills is amongst the coldest places in the British Isles. According to the most recent 30 year climate period of 1981 2010 Leadhills is the second coldest village in the UK (of those with weather stations) with an annual mean temperature of 6.76 °C (44 °F) making it slightly colder than the commonly regarded coldest settlement of Braemar, which had an annual average temperature of 6.81 °C (44 °F) in this period. However, Leadhills' slightly more exposed and elevated location than Braemar results in absolute minima being higher than one might expect the December absolute minimum of 15.0 °C (5 °F) compares favourably to usually milder Glasgow Airport's absolute minimum of 20.0 °C ( 4 °F).