Gold has been mined in Scotland for centuries. There was a short-lived gold rush in 1852 at Auchtermuchty and Kinnesswood,[1] and another in 1869 at Baile An Or on the Kildonan burn in Helmsdale in Sutherland.[2] There have been several attempts to run commercial mines. In the Lowther Hills, Leadhills, and Wanlockhead areas gold prospecting and the extraction of lead metal went hand in hand. From 1424, under the Royal Mines Act, until 1592, gold and silver mined in Scotland were deemed to belong to the crown. The 1592 Act vested rights for gold, silver, lead, copper, tin, and other minerals in the king's feudal tenants or other leaseholders, who would pay 10% of any profit to the crown.[3] The Act also established a Master of Metals as a crown officer,[4] a position held from June 1592 by Lord Menmuir.[5] followed by Thomas Hamilton of Monkland in March 1607.[6]
- ^ Alexander Brook, 'Technical Description of the Regalia of Scotland', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 24 (1890), p. 91.
- ^ R. Callender & P. Reeson, The Scottish Gold Rush of 1869, Northern Mine Research Society, April 2008
- ^ Mines and Metals Act 1592
- ^ David Ross Stewart, A Treatise on the Law Relating to Mines, Quarries, and Minerals in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1894), pp. 20-22.
- ^ Lives of the Lindsays, Or a Memoir of the Houses of Crawford, vol. 1 (London, 1849), pp. 353-4.
- ^ Robert William Cochran-Patrick, Early Records Relating to Mining in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1878), p. lxiv.