Blackcraig Lead Mines

Overview

Blackcraig, on Daltamie Hill east-southeast of Newton Stewart in Dumfries and Galloway, was a lead-mining venture discovered by chance during military road construction in 1763 and worked across three separate phases spanning a century and a half — an 18th-century boom, a Victorian revival that also raised zinc ore, and a brief reopening in 1917 — by the Craigtown Mining Company and its successors.

History

In 1763 a soldier working on the Old Military Road from Carlisle to Portpatrick discovered lead in the bedrock at Blackcraig, on Daltamie Hill. The Craigtown Mining Company, formed in 1758 by Cuthbert Redshaw, William Carruthers and George Clerk, immediately bought a 38-year lease and opened both East and West Blackcraig mines; East Blackcraig lay north of the military road, in what is now Kirroughtree Forest, and West Blackcraig to the south. Mining families worked as contractors, tendering each season to dig a set length of mine or extract a set weight of stone at fixed prices, with women and children assisting at the surface dressing floors. Operations peaked around 1780 with 44 workers — 25 miners and 7 smelters — powering a stone-crushing mill fed by a lade running over a kilometre from Loch Bruntis and Little Bruntis; the associated smelt mill operated from around 1760 until 1837. Financial losses were recorded in 1783, and the mines closed in the 1790s. They reopened for a second, mid-to-late-19th-century phase that also raised zinc ore, before a brief final reopening in 1917 helped support the war effort. The site was designated a scheduled monument (SM13752) on 5 October 2022.

Geology

Lead, and in the later 19th century zinc, in the ground of Daltamie Hill east-south-east of Newton Stewart, found by chance during military road construction in 1763.

Workings

Worked by mining families as contractors, each tendering by the season to dig a set length of mine or raise a set weight of stone at fixed prices, with women and children assisting at the surface.

Closure

Financial losses were recorded in 1783 and the mines closed in the 1790s.

What remains

Around a dozen ruined cottages survive at Craigton village, along with six visible mine shafts and spoil heaps, an open main shaft, the lade that fed the crushing mill, two stone-cut adits, and a nine-compartment storage or processing building roughly 70m long by 6m wide; the reservoir that once fed the lade, around 15m square and over 2m deep, also survives. A Lidar survey by Forestry and Land Scotland, which manages the site, confirmed these features during the assessment for scheduling and identified others not previously recorded. The area now lies within Kirroughtree Forest and is used for walking and off-road cycling.

What's uncertain

Points where sources disagree or the record could not be settled; both accounts are kept. All open questions in the archive.

• Historical accounts from 1904 refer to older, undated horizontal workings known as ‘old men’ in the area, pre-dating the Craigtown Mining Company's own shafts; Historic Environment Scotland notes there is no actual evidence of Roman-period mining at the site despite the Old Military Road's route following an earlier Roman road, so the age and origin of these older workings remains unconfirmed. (uncertain) ²

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each attached to the source(s) that support it below. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• In 1763 a soldier working on the Old Military Road between Carlisle and Portpatrick discovered lead in the bedrock at Blackcraig, prompting the newly formed Craigtown Mining Company to buy a 38-year lease and open the East and West Blackcraig mines. ¹
• Mining families at Blackcraig worked as contractors, tendering each season to dig a set length of mine or extract a set weight of stone at fixed prices. ¹
• Operations at Blackcraig peaked around 1780 with 44 workers — 25 miners and 7 smelters — before financial losses recorded in 1783 led to closure in the 1790s; the mines reopened in the mid-1800s and again briefly in 1917 to support the war effort. ¹
• The site was designated a scheduled monument (reference SM13752) on 5 October 2022, later amended on 29 July 2024; the designation covers fourteen separate scheduled areas, including the shafts, the two adits, the lade and its reservoir, the smelt mill, the dressing floors and the miners' cottages. ²
• The mines worked in three phases: an 18th-century phase from the 1770s to the 1790s (peaking around 1780), a 19th-century phase peaking around the 1870s, and a brief reopening in 1917 for wartime production; the associated smelt mill operated from around 1760 until 1837. ²
• The mid-19th-century phase also raised zinc ore (blende) — 33 tons in 1865 alone, the earliest year for which a figure survives — with a small but fairly constant output kept up until the mines closed in 1882. ³
• Historical accounts from 1904 refer to older, undated horizontal workings known as ‘old men’ in the area, pre-dating the Craigtown Mining Company's own shafts; Historic Environment Scotland notes there is no actual evidence of Roman-period mining at the site despite the Old Military Road's route following an earlier Roman road, so the age and origin of these older workings remains unconfirmed. (uncertain) ²

Sources

1. (secondary) Following a Lead: Designating Blackcraig Lead Mines — Historic Environment Scotland
2. (primary) Blackcraig lead mines, lade, dressing floors, smelt mill and miners' cottages, Blackcraig (SM13752) — Historic Environment Scotland
3. (primary) Lead and zinc ores of Scotland: introduction, historical notes, statistics and the veins — British Geological Survey
4. (primary) BGS Mine Plans: Blackcraig, O.S. 25-inch (1908 edition) — pavement mine mouth, adit level, dumps (AP15151) — British Geological Survey
5. (primary) BGS Mine Plans: Plan of Blackcraig Mines, 1918 — adit mouths, levels, dumps, longitudinal section (AP7906) — British Geological Survey

Record created: 20 August 2026 · Last researched: 28 August 2026