Gold mining in Scotland
Gold has been mined in Scotland for centuries. There was a short-lived gold rush in 1852 at Auchtermuchty and Kinnesswood, and another in 1869 at Baile An Or on the Kildonan burn in Helmsdale in Sutherland. 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. The Act also established a Master of Metals as a crown officer, a position held from June 1592 by Lord Menmuir. followed by Thomas Hamilton of Monkland in March 1607.
Medieval records
In 1125 David I of Scotland gave his tenth share of gold mining profits in Fife and Fothrik to Dunfermline Abbey. Fothrik was an area west of Fife, extending towards the Ochils and Alloa. In 1424, James I declared by act of Parliament that gold or silver, and lead ore rich in silver, belonged to the crown, as was customary in other kingdoms.16th-century mining
Mines were opened in 1502 during the reign of James IV of Scotland. The chronicle of Boece and Bellenden mentions the success of the mines of James IV in Clydesdale where gold and azure, a blue copper mineral, were found with little labour. James IV sent his Italian alchemist John Damian to view the workings at Crawfurdmuir in March 1513.The French-born governor or Regent of Scotland, John Stewart, Duke of Albany had a medallion minted from Scottish gold from Crawford Muir in Lanarkshire. Albany employed a French refiner called John Drane. In February 1516, William Cockburn of Skirling was permitted to employ 24 miners at Crawfordmuir. In March 1516, the infant James V of Scotland and Regent Albany leased rights to mine for gold, silver, tin and other metals on Crawford Moor and other places to Patrick Hamilton of Kincavil.
In December 1525 or January 1526, Gunther von Lauichz, a servant of Christian II of Denmark and the German Joachim Hochstetter, were sent to prospect for gold. John Carmichael younger of Meadowflat undertook to help support their rights. Hochstetter and his brothers made a contract with the king's guardian, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, to mint Scotland's silver coinage, but were subsequently employed by Henry VIII at the Combe Martin silver mines. They left after a short period to work in Hungary.
As an adult ruler, James V encouraged further efforts, and had personal jewellery made from Scottish "gold of the mine". James Hamilton of Finnart was paid for three ounces of Scottish gold in 1533, which was used to repair the crown. The Captain of Crawford was paid £840 for "gold of the mine". The Edinburgh goldsmith John Mosman was involved. In 1539 French-speaking miners arrived from the Duchy of Lorraine sent by the Duchess of Guise, and Mosman paid their expenses from Edinburgh to the mines at Crawford Moor and for their equipment. The royal accounts specify that many pieces made by Mosman were fashioned from Scottish gold. In 1538 Mosman made a hat badge featuring a mermaid, set with diamonds, from the "Kingis awne gold". Mosman was paid for a nugget of gold, "unwrocht gold of the mynde", that was sent to the Duke of Guise, the father of the queen consort Mary of Guise. Mosman added 41 ounces of Scottish gold to the royal crown now kept at Edinburgh Castle.
James V and Mary of Guise came to Crawford in July 1541 bringing tapestry to furnish their lodging at Crawford Castle. George Carmichael, son of the Captain of Crawford, presented three ounces of gold to the queen. James V used, or hoped to use, Scottish gold for his prestigious issues of coinage, and so promote the regal image of the Scottish monarchs in Europe.
File:Elvan Water - geograph.org.uk - 1225048.jpg|thumb|right|English prospectors Bevis Bulmer and George Bowes found gold near the Elvan water in the Lowther Hills.
The chronicle writer John Lesley mentioned the activities of Dutch or German miners around the year 1541, who had permission from James V to prospect for gold, and after several weeks processed ore from veins at "Crauford mure" into round balls or globules which they exported for further refining. According to Lesley, they exported the ore mainly to protect their interests and investment. Later prospectors doubted the presence of veins of gold.
Reign of Mary, Queen of Scots
In December 1546, during the war known as the Rough Wooing, an English border official Thomas Warton wrote to Thomas Wriothesley about gold-mining in Scotland at Crawford Moor, offering to investigate the ground. Wharton recalled a conversation with the Scottish ambassador Adam Otterburn, who said that James IV had mines but only found loose pieces of gold or gold ore rather than a vein, and had spent more on the work than he recovered. Wharton owned one of the gold medallions coined by Albany, said to be minted from Scottish gold.Mary of Guise wrote for French miners to search silver and gold in 1549. Regent Arran had French miners operating a lead mine on Craufordmuir in 1553. The Privy Council of England discussed the subject of Scottish gold at "Crafordmore" in June 1553. In January 1554, Henri Cleutin considered the need to increase revenue from Scottish fisheries and mines in the context of the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots.
Mary of Guise became Regent of Scotland, and English miners were sent to Craufordmuir to prospect for gold in July 1554, supported by Robert Carmichael. She paid for five ounces of "gold of the mine" in August and this was delivered to the mint and recorded as "auri Scoticani". In October 1555 John Carmichael, young Captain of Crauford, was given £560 Scots to buy gold from the miners for Mary of Guise. Some of the gold was delivered to John Misserve, an English worker in the mint who was also described as the "Inglis mynour". He was given a licence to prospect for gold in June 1556, but was later discovered to be a counterfeiter.
A short guide to Scottish law, the Discours Particulier D'Escosse, written in French by John Bellenden and James MacGill in 1559, explains that the profits from gold mines and silver mines in Scotland, and the royal mint, were understood to belong to the crown, and a proportionate tax was levied. Lead had a different legal status, but because silver was routinely extracted from lead ore its mining rights were also reserved to the crown.
Charles Forrest and Thomas Phillop were managing a mine for Mary, Queen of Scots in the summer of 1562. John Stewart of Tarlair, with his son William, were licensed to mine for gold and other metals north of the River Tay to Orkney in March 1546. They were allowed timber from the royal woods for any buildings, and were to sell any gold or silver produced to the royal mint. They were not mine or dig coal pits within ten miles of the royal palaces.
A Dutch miner Cornelius de Vos, a shareholder in the English Company of Mines Royal, came to Scotland in 1566 to prospect for gold. De Vos went to consult with colleagues in Keswick in England, bringing a sample of ore and arousing suspicions. Thomas Thurland reported the find to William Cecil in October. De Vos made contracts for mines and making salt with Mary, Queen of Scots, and her two husbands, Lord Darnley and Bothwell.
De Vos's mining contracts were renewed by Mary's half-brother, Regent Moray. Another prospector at Keswick, George Nedham, reported that Cornelius de Vos corresponded with Daniel Hochstetter in October 1568, asking him to make assays of ores and send skilled workmen to Scotland. The miners of Keswick were reluctant to get involved, and Nedham wrote to the merchant Lionel Duckett for advice and to know if Elizabeth I was supportive, considering the political instability in Scotland. Nedham asked Duckett to keep the business secret and ask the courtier John Tamworth to get the Queen's opinion. In Scotland, Cornelius de Vos was said to have employed men and women, "both ladds and lasses", who otherwise might have begged for a living. Later mineral entrepreneurs and diplomats also stressed the benefits of employment offered by mines.
Reign of James VI
During the rule of Regent Morton who governed Scotland for the young James VI in the 1570s, English and Dutch miners prospected for gold, including Eustachius Roche. According to Stephen Atkinson, a colleague of Bevis Bulmer, the painters Arnold Bronckorst and Nicholas Hilliard came to Scotland in company with Cornelius de Vos. Atkinson may have got this story from the prospector George Bowes, whose father Sir George Bowes was involved with the acquisition of a portrait of James VI in 1579.Archibald Napier of Merchiston and Regent Morton's favourite George Auchinleck of Balmanno signed a contract with a Flemish miner Abraham Peterson to work certain gold, silver, copper, and lead mines, for the space of twelve years, excluding lead mines already managed by Morton's relative George Douglas of Parkhead. Refined silver and gold would be sold to the master of the mint, the "Maister Cunyeour", John Acheson. A number of German miners arrived in June 1574. The gold mines were regarded as the property of the crown, and in July 1576 a proclamation was made at Edinburgh, Lanark, Peebles, and the mining districts of Cawformure, Robertmure, and Henderland, to the effect no one should sell gold to Scottish people or foreigners, but only to the Master Coiner.
The mines opened by George Douglas of Parkhead came to be managed a goldsmith and financier, Thomas Foulis in the 1590s. In June 1592, the Parliament of Scotland created a new office, the Master of Metals, to have charge of mines, refining, and crown income from mining. John Lindsay of Menmuir was appointed. A surviving letter from this time shows that Douglas of Parkhead's wife Marion Douglas managed a lead mine.
Thomas Foulis had a tack or lease of the gold mines in "Crauford and Robert Muires" in 1595. Custom or duty from the gold extracted due to James VI, under the terms of the 1592 Act, amounted to £666-13s-6d Scots. Foulis was trusted to spend this sum on the king's behalf along with the subsidy granted to James VI by Elizabeth I, and provided jewellery to the king. The English prospector George Bowes, a nephew of the ambassador Robert Bowes, made an arrangement to work with Foulis, but Elizabeth I disapproved. Another English entrepreneur Bevis Bulmer formed a partnership with Foulis. In 1598, an English inventor or speculator Gavin Smith and a Scottish goldsmith and mint official James Aitcheson or Achesoun developed a pump for mining works.