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Glengonnar Mine

Wanlockhead, Glengonnar Station, Mine Hill, Lanarkshire.

Mine (Lead).

"The shaft is situated at an elevation of about 1460 ft., and is near to the county boundary and the railway. It is vertical till it cuts Brow Vein at a depth of 100 fms., but from that point it bends and follows the vein to a total depth of 249 fms below the surface. Brow Vein trends north-west, and hades south-west at an angle of about 60°. Brown's Vein trends 10° west of north and hades east at 70°. The two veins intersect at the surface at a point some 500 ft. E.S.E. of Glengonnar Shaft, and the line of intersection then dips away at an angle of about 45° to the S.S.E.

As now seen in the 135 and 172-fm. workings, Brow Vein varies greatly in thickness, but averages 8 ft. between walls. The veinstone consists mainly of a breccia of country-rock cemented together by ore-bearing calcite and dolomite, and often strung through with vertical and ramifying ribs of solid galena varying from to 12 in. in thickness. In some cases the walls are 18 ft. apart, and the whole infilling consists of this rich, ore-bearing material. Brown's Vein is filled with very similar material to Brow Vein, but is perhaps not quite so rich in lead ore.

... the workings in both veins are extensive, but as yet practically all the workings in Brow Vein are to the south-east of the shaft, and they have been carried to its intersection with Brown's Vein over a total length of about 300 fms., and to a depth of 187 fms. below adit.

The workings in Brown's Vein extend over a distance of 500 fms., and reach to a depth of 160 fms. below adit. Besides the communications at the various levels, the workings in the two veins are also connected by a cross-cut at Gripps Level, driven from Glengonnar Shaft to a point a few fathoms north of Jeffrey's Shaft." [Wilson, 1921]

Alternative Names: Glengonnar Shaft

Notes: Not to be confused with Glengonnar Copper Mine:

"The Glengonnar Copper Mine was down in a depression at the roadside between Wanlockhead and Leadhills. As the youngest and lightest member of the now defunct Glasgow Speleological Society I was always volunteered by the others to go into things they were not happy with. At the time I thought I was really popular and it took me a while to realize my roll was an overgrown miner's canary, to the extent of being expendable.

On one occasion in this mine, I was put down a sixty feet deep shaft on a forty foot ladder then lowered the last twenty feet on washing line that had been extended by lengths of baling twine. My main concern was that the water I was going to land in would flood my wellies. This concern soon changed; when it was time to be pulled up the twenty feet to the bottom of the ladder, the haulers couldn't grip the muddy twine to take my weight. The line was reversed; I tied the baling twine round my waist while they pulled on the thicker wash-line, where I eventually arrived at the top of the shaft looking like an egg-timer and totally numb from the waist down. (Or was it from the waist up - I can't remember.)" [RRPC]

"The Ores and their Alteration Products.- The primary ores are galena, blonde, pyrites and chalcopyrite, and of these galena is the only one occurring in payable quantity; but recently some ore raised from the lowest level was found to consist of an intergrowth of galena and blonde in almost equal quantities. The oxidised ores are limonite, hamatite and small amounts of malachite and chrysocolla." [Wilson, 1921]

See also Wilson's Shaft and other shafts around Mine Hill and Wanlock Dod.

Exact position places this mine shaft in Lanarkshire not Dumfriesshire as previously noted.