Site Report

WoSASPIN 2307
NR36NE 32 39 65 and 39 66.

See also NR36NE 21 for a general description of lead mining on Islay.

A major vein of lead, worked in a way similar to that at Mulreesh (NR46NW 7) is situated at Gartness, SE of Ballygrant village.
RCAHMS 1984a, visited May 1967.

From the 17th to the 19th centuries, Ballygrant was the centre of a considerable mining industry for both lead and silver. Thomas Pennant’s eighteenth century, "A tour of Scotland and voyage to the Hebrides", describes his visit to Islay in 1772. During his visit Pennant was shown around some of the mines by a Mr. Freebairn and wrote: ‘the ore is of lead, much mixed with copper which occasions expense and trouble in the separation; the veins rise to the surface, and have been worked at intervals for ages’. And about the workings he writes: ‘The lead-ore is good; the copper yields thirty-three pounds per hundred; and forty ounces of silver from the tun of metal. The lead-ore is smelted in the air-furnace, near Freeport’. Lead mining came to an end with the production of 38 tons of lead in 1880 and 1,214 ounces of silver. There were four mines in total in the area, the Gartness Mine, Ballygrant Mine, Woodend Mine and the Robolls Mine east of Loch Finlaggan (Callender & Macaulay, 1984).

The limestone containing the lead ore is much localised between Ballygrant and Port Askaig where the lead veins occur in strata that have been twisted into a series of shallow folds, with the result that there are no deposits in any great quantities. Neither is it likely that the veins have any depth as the slate bed below is not the type of rock that has fissures suitable for the accumulation of minerals. The veins, or ‘strings’, containing the lead ore were described in 1810 as ‘…imperfect, discontinuous mineral fissures; some hundreds of which produced, and now contain, a small quantity of good lead ore, and yet certainly come to nothing at a depth of a few feet…’. Further to this description, it was noted regarding the methods employed to extract the ore that ‘…the phenomenon of such prodigious numbers of superficial trials within so small a compass of ground, not above ten miles over, struck me with surprise and, therefore, I made some enquiry about it………their principal way of procuring ore was by employing and encouraging the peasantry of the island to dig and raise the ore at so much per bing, which is a certain weight or measure; and in consequence of some ore being seen at the surface in numbers of veins, the country people searched, dug and rummaged the whole face of the mining field. They laid all the veins open to the day, like a trench or ditch, where they found any ore’ (Idem: 15). Indeed, a look over the aerial imagery of the area today displays a large number of these open veins, or rakes, where ore was searched for and was procured in the past.

NR 39703 66059
A mine entrance measuring 0.7m high and 1m wide on the N bank of the stream comprising a bank of rubble with glass bottles at entrance and water seeping out to the stream. No spoil outside entrance.

NR 39714 66054
A t-shaped quarried recess in limestone with two mine entrances on the E and W sides, one of which may join to site 3. W entrance measures 3m high and 1.2m wide with a bank of debris in front containing glass, wire coils and other domestic rubbish. E entrance is 0.6m high and 0.8m wide with a bank of material in front holding back water. Only 0.4-0.6m of air space in passage but it may be up to 1.4m high.

NR 39761 66052
An open mine rake surface measuring 20m NW-SE by 2.5- 4.5m wide and 2.8m deep. There is an upcast bank on downhill side spilling downslope.

NR 39780 66049
Vertical mine shaft or collapsed feature containing water and modern rubbish measuring 3.5m NW-SE by 1.4m.

NR 39786 66039
Vertical mine shaft or collapsed feature containing water and modern rubbish measuring 5.5m NW-SE by 1.5m.

NR39810 65962
Infilled mine workings on S side of road measuring 5m E-W by 4m and 1.6m deep.

NR 39805 65966
Infilled mine workings on S side of road measuring 4.5m diameter and 1.7m deep with access from NNE.

NR 39788 65975
Mine workings measuring 12-14m N-S by 8m and 3.8m deep

NR 39785 65956
A collapsed feature measuring 14m NW-SE by 3m wide in two depressions infilled with stone, timber and soil.

NR 39779 65981
A large mine rake with depressions with trees growing in the stone fill. It measures 30m NW-SE by 4m wide.

NR 39771 66000
Backfilled mine entrance above the road.

NR 39727 65996
A shallow mine rake running SSW-NNE measuring 0.8-1.4m wide

NR 39717 65984
A shallow mine rake running SSW-NNE measuring 1-4m wide and 1.2m deep. Upcast on E side forms a bank spread 3m wide and 1.2m high.

NR 39655 66025
Possible infilled shaft or collapse measuring 3m E-W by 0.8m and 0.5m deep

NR 39617 66059
A small mine entrance measuring 1.2m high and 0.6m wide. It is facing the road and is filled by water.

NR 39627 66048
Surface mine rake running 25m EW with depressions up to 5m wide and 2.5m deep and upcast on downhill slope

NR 39602 66037
Surface mine rake running 20m WNW-ESE measuring 0.6-1m wide and 2.5m deep.
Birch, S., West Coast Archaeological Services, 'Construction of run-of-river hydro scheme, Ballygrant Quarry, Isle of Islay: Archaeological Desk-based Assessment and Walkover Survey Report' (2017)