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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, the highest being neighbouring Wanlockhead, south. It is near the source of Glengonnar Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. Local attractions Library 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 ...
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Leadhills And 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 Glasgow at Elvanfoot. Overview The preserved section runs from Leadhills for about towards Wanlockhead and is the highest adhesion railway in the UK. The rack and pinion Snowdon Mountain Railway is higher. Trains are currently diesel worked with the locomotive propelling the train up hill away from Leadhills. The original railway closed in the late 1930s shortly after the mines in Wanlockhead had closed. The railway currently stops at the border of South Lanarkshire and Dumfries and Galloway. Operation Trains operate on the push-pull principle as there are no run round loop facilities at the end of the run. Movements within the main station site at Leadhills are controlled from the reconstructed signal box which contains the ...
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Scots Mining Company House
The Scots Mining Company House, also known as Woodlands Hall, is an early-18th-century mansion house in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The house was built around 1736 for the manager of the Leadhills mines, which were owned by the Earl of Hopetoun. Its design has been attributed to the architect William Adam. The house is now a category A listed building. The garden, which is largely unchanged since it was laid out in the 18th century, is included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens. History Lead and silver have been mined at Leadhills in the Southern Uplands for centuries. In the 17th century, Sir James Hope (1614–1661) married Anne, daughter of Robert Foulis of Leadhills, and the mines subsequently passed to his descendants the Earls of Hopetoun. The Scots Mining Company, formally The Governor and Company for Working the Mines and Minerals in that part of North Britain called Scotland, was fo ...
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Scots Mining Company
The Scots Mining Company, or Scotch Mines Company,Peter L. Payne (Ed.) (2013) ''Studies in Scottish Business History'page 119-134Routledge. Retrieved February 2015 was formed shortly after the Jacobite rising of 1715 by Sir John Erskine with the intention of better developing the mineral resources of Scotland.John Nichols (1853) ''The Gentleman's Magazine'', Volume 193''A Trip to the Gold Regions if Scotland''p589-597, Publisher R. Newton. Retrieved February 2015 Primary investors were largely garnered from expatriate Scots living in London. History Following its incorporation by royal charter in 1729, the Scots Mining Company procured leases for mines at Leadhills and elsewhere. The company was near bankrupt when, in 1734, the mathematician James Stirling was appointed manager.Colin Russell (2014) ''Who Made the Scottish Enlightenment?'page 391 Xlibris Corporation, Retrieved February 2015 The systems of mining, social organisation and living conditions of the workers that Stir ...
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Wanlockhead
Wanlockhead is a village in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, nestling in the Lowther Hills and south of Leadhills at the head of the Mennock Pass, which forms part of the Southern Uplands. It is Scotland's highest village, at an elevation of around , and can be accessed via the B797, which connects it to the A76 near Sanquhar and the A74(M) motorway at Abington. History The village was called ''Winlocke'' until 1566, derived from the Gaelic ''Cuingealach'' (the narrow pass). Wanlockhead owes its existence to the lead and other mineral deposits 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 built a lead smelting plant and workers' cottages. Lead, zinc, copper and silver were mined nearby, as well as some of the world's purest gold at 22.8 carats, which was used to make the Scottish Crown. Early gold min ...
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James Braid (surgeon)
James Braid (19 June 1795 – 25 March 1860) was a Scottish surgeon, natural philosopher, and " gentleman scientist". He was a significant innovator in the treatment of clubfoot, spinal curvature, knock-knees, bandy legs, and squint; a significant pioneer of hypnotism and hypnotherapy, and an important and influential pioneer in the adoption of both hypnotic anaesthesia and chemical anaesthesia. He is regarded by some, such as Kroger (2008, p. 3), as the "Father of Modern Hypnotism"; however, in relation to the issue of there being significant connections between Braid's "hypnotism" and "modern hypnotism" (as practised), let alone "identity", Weitzenhoffer (2000, p. 3) urges the utmost caution in making any such assumption: Also, in relation to the clinical application of "hypnotism", Early life Braid was the third son, and the seventh and youngest child, of James Braid (c. 1761–184?) and Anne Suttie (c. 1761–?). He was born at Ryelaw House, in the ...
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William Symington
William Symington (1764–1831) was a Scottish engineer and inventor, and the builder of the first practical steamboat, the Charlotte Dundas. Early life Symington was born in Leadhills, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, to a family he described as being "respectable but not wealthy." His father worked as a practical mechanic at the Leadhills mines. Although his parents intended for him to enter the ministry, he intended to use his good education to make a career as an engineer. So, in 1785, he joined his brother George in his attempts to build a steam engine at Wanlockhead, Dumfriesshire. While there, he impressed the manager of a local mining company, Gilbert Meason, so much that he was sent to the University of Edinburgh in 1786 to spend a few months attending science lectures. By the time William joined his brother, George had already succeeded in building the second engine using James Watt's design to be built in Scotland. Improvements to Watt's design Symington quickly saw ...
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Allan Ramsay (poet)
Allan Ramsay (15 October 16867 January 1758) was a Scottish poet (or ''makar''), playwright, publisher, librarian, and impresario of early Enlightenment Edinburgh. Life and career Allan Ramsay was born at Leadhills, Lanarkshire, to John Ramsay, superintendent of Lord Hopetoun's lead-mines and his wife, Alice Bower, a native of Derbyshire. Allan Ramsay and his elder brother Robert probably attended the parish school at Crawfordjohn. In 1701 Allan was apprenticed to a wig-maker in Edinburgh and received his indentures back by 1709. He married Christian Ross in 1712; a few years after he had established himself as a wig-maker (not as a barber, as has been often said) in the High Street, and soon found himself in comfortable circumstances. They had six children. His eldest child was Allan Ramsay, the portrait painter. Ramsay's first efforts in verse-making were inspired by the meetings of the Easy Club (founded in 1712), of which he was an original member; and in 1715 he becam ...
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James Stirling (mathematician)
James Stirling (11 May O.S. 1692, Garden, Stirlingshire – 5 December 1770, Edinburgh) was a Scottish mathematician. He was nicknamed "The Venetian". The Stirling numbers, Stirling permutations, and Stirling's approximation are named after him. He also proved the correctness of Isaac Newton's classification of cubics. Biography Stirling was born on 11 May 1692 O.S. at Garden House near Stirling, the third son of Archibald Stirling, Lord Garden. At 18 years of age he went to Balliol College, Oxford, where, chiefly through the influence of the Earl of Mar, he was nominated in 1711 to be one of Bishop Warner's exhibitioners (or Snell exhibitioner) at Balliol. In 1715 he was expelled on account of his correspondence with his cousins, who were members of the Keir and Garden families, who were noted Jacobites, and had been accessory to the " Gathering of the Brig o' Turk" in 1708. From Oxford he made his way to Venice, where he occupied himself as a professor of mathematics. ...
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Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotland, as it contains most of Glasgow and the surrounding conurbation. In earlier times it had considerably greater boundaries, including neighbouring Renfrewshire until 1402. Lanarkshire is bounded to the north by the counties of Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire (this boundary is split into two sections owing to Dunbartonshire's Cumbernauld exclave), to the northeast by West Lothian and Mid Lothian, to the east by Peeblesshire, to the south by Dumfriesshire, and to the west by Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. Administrative history Lanarkshire was historically divided between two administrative areas. In the mid-18th century it was divided again into three wards: the upper, middle and lower wards with their administrative centres at Lanar ...
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Caledonian Railway
The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh and Aberdeen, with a dense network of branch lines in the area surrounding Glasgow. It was absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923. Many of its principal routes are still used, and the original main line between Carlisle and Glasgow is in use as part of the West Coast Main Line railway (with a modified entry into Glasgow itself). Introduction In the mid-1830s, railways in England evolved from local concerns to longer routes that connected cities, and then became networks. In Scotland it was clear that this was the way forward, and there was a desire to connect the Central Belt to the incipient English network. There was controversy over the route that such a line might take, but the Caledonian Railway was formed on ...
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William Adam (architect)
William Adam (1689 – 24 June 1748) was a Scottish architect, mason, and entrepreneur. He was the foremost architect of his time in Scotland,McWilliam, p.57 designing and building numerous country houses and public buildings, and often acting as contractor as well as architect. Among his best known works are Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, and Duff House in Banff. His individual, exuberant style built on the Palladian style, but with Baroque details inspired by Vanbrugh and Continental architecture. In the 18th century, Adam was considered Scotland's "Universal Architect". However, since the early 20th century, architectural critics have taken a more measured view, Colin McWilliam, for instance, finding the quality of his work "varied to an extreme degree". As well as being an architect, Adam was involved in several industrial ventures and improvement schemes, including coal mining, salt panning, stone quarries and mills. In 1731 he began to build up his own estate in ...
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World War 1
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising France, Russia, and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (containing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914, following the assassination of Arch ...
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