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VIII.—Historical Notes on the Occurrence of Gold in the South of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

Extract

From a very early period gold has been found and worked for in Scotland. We have records dating as far back as the time of James I., in which grants were made to different parties to search and mine for this metal; and no doubt it was obtained at a much earlier period. The gold ornaments found in Scotland, with other relies of pre-historie times, were doubtless manufactured from native gold. Several localities are mentioned in these old grants where gold was to be searched for; but by far the most important district is that generally mentioned as Crawford Moor, which appears to include the range of hills at Wanloekhead and Leadhills, and the streams which fall into the Clyde on the one side, and those which reach the Nith and Annan on the other. The head water of the Tweed, where gold has been found to a limited extent, appears to have been included in this district.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1876

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References

page 22 note 1 Registrum de Dunfermelyn, Bannatyne Club, p. 16, No. xxvlli.

page 22 note 2 Thomson’s Acts of the Scottish Parliament, vol. ii. p. 5.

page 22 note 3 As no silver halfpenny of the reign of James I. is known to exist, the weight of this coin is somewhat uncertain. The groat of this reign may be taken to weigh about 36 grains, the weight of a half-penny would therefore be about 41/2 grains, so three silver half-penniest o the poundo f lead would represent 151/2 grains, equivalent to about 62 ounces to the ton of lead. No Scotch lead approaches to anything like this in the quantity of silver it contains.

page 24 note 1 Oth0, E. x. f. 12.

page 26 note 1 Annan (?),

page 26 note 2 Glen-app (?),

page 26 note 3 The Screel of Bengairn, near Kirdendbright (?),

page 27 note * This specimen was found by Andrew Gemmell, who wrote to Dr. W. Lander Lindsay as follows respecting it, on the 10th February, 1875 :—“About the lump of gold quartz that I found in 1872 . . . . I have no bits of quartz of the same lump now. I never knew of any being found here as large. It would be about 10 lbs. weight, and mixed with gold all through, less or more. A number of gentlemen got a piece of it, and one gentleman has got a number of the pieces from the other gentlemen and is going to take a model of it.”