The Silver Glen lies approximately to the east of the town of

Alva, Clackmannanshire Alva (Scottish Gaelic: ''Ailbheach'', meaning rocky) is a small town in Clackmannanshire, set in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is one of a number of towns situated immediately to the south of the Ochil Hills, collectively referred to as th ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, and takes its name from the

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

that was mined there in the early 18th century. The deposit, the richest deposit of native silver ever found in the British Isles, was discovered just as the

Jacobite rising of 1715 The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ; or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts The House of Stuart, ori ...

was breaking out, and its owner, Sir John Erskine, left to join the rebels, leaving his wife in charge of the mine. Some 40 tons of ore were raised and buried in barrels in the grounds of Alva House at the foot of the Ochil Hills, about east of Stirling, whilst the richest of the ore was smelted and the ingots concealed under floorboards inside the house. The mine was then filled in during the aftermath of the failed rising, but its existence was revealed to the government by an employee of the Erskines. Samples of the ore were analysed by

Sir Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27) was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author (described in his time as a "natural philosopher"), widely recognised as one of the great ...

and found to be very rich. Sir John was later able to secure a pardon for his role in the rising, on condition he revealed all he knew about the mine, and gave a tenth of the proceeds to the government. Mining resumed a few years later and the remainder of the deposit was extracted. Later, in 1759, a vein carrying

erythrite Erythrite or red cobalt is a secondary hydrated cobalt arsenate mineral with the formula . Erythrite and annabergite, chemical formula , or nickel arsenate form a complete series with the general formula . Erythrite crystallizes in the monoclin ...

, an ore of

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, pr ...

, was found and gave a new lease of life to the mines, but it was soon exhausted. Many of the old mineworkings can still be seen, but the new landowners,

The Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972. The Woodland Tr ...

, have installed locked gates on the more extensive workings, as there are unprotected shafts within. There is not much trace of silver to be found now, as the dumps have been well worked over by mineral collectors. Some fine examples of crystallized dendritic silver were found in the 1980s. There are other mine workings at Carnaughton Glen, on the west side of Alva just above the golf course, which are often confused with the Silver Glen. These are barren trials from the 1770s.Moreton (2007) Again, there is at least one shaft, this time water-filled, so casual exploration by the inexperienced is not advised.

References

{{Reflist Geography of Clackmannanshire Geology of Scotland Mines in Scotland Silver mines in the United Kingdom