Leadhills
| Leadhills | |
|---|---|
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Old Mine Workings at Wanlockhead |
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 Leadhills
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| Leadhills shown within South Lanarkshire | |
| Population | 315 |
| OS grid reference | NS885150 |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Biggar |
| Postcode district | ML12 |
| Police | Scottish |
| Fire | Scottish |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament | |
| Scottish Parliament | |
Leadhills, originally settled for the accommodation of miners, is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, 5 3⁄4 miles (9.3 km) WSW of Elvanfoot. The population in 1901 was 835. It was originally known as Waterhead.
It is the second highest village in Scotland at an average height of 1,460 feet (450 m) above sea-level. The Ordnance Survey are currently re-measuring the height of the village and neighbouring Wanlockhead as it is now thought Leadhills is the lower of the two. It is near the source of Glengonnar Water, an affluent of the River Clyde.
Bear-ly Reminiscent and Teddywood Bear Village Come and meet the Bears who worked in the mines. Their stories are both historical and fun. Visit Teddywood Bear Village, a miniature version of Leadhills housing the Bear community built on the hillside. The village includes a mine, schoolhouse, church and the bear houses. Fun and informative for young and old.
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:
Today, the library is owned and run by a registered charity, The Leadhills Heritage Trust and has full accreditation with Museums and Galleries Scotland. It is open from May to September on weekends and bank holidays, between 2 pm and 4 pm.
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Wikipedia