Old Photographs Tyndrum Strathfillan Highlands Of Scotland

Tour Scotland wee video of old photographs of Tyndrum, Scottish Gaelic: Taigh an Droma, meaning, the house on the ridge, a small village in Strathfillan at the southern edge of Rannoch Moor in the Scottish Highlands. This Scottish village is notable mainly for being at an important crossroads of transport routes. The West Highland Railway Line from Glasgow splits approximately five miles to the south at Crianlarich, with one branch heading to Fort Willam and the other to Oban. Tyndrum has a station on each: Upper Tyndrum on the Fort William route and Tyndrum Lower on the Oban route. Overshadowed by Ben Lui, one of the Munros, Tyndrum is also built over the battlefield on which, in 1306 AD, Clan MacDougall defeated Robert the Bruce and took from him the Brooch of Lorne. The earliest known record of mining in this area was in 1424. Mined for precious metals rather than lead, the mines supplied King James I with silver. On 30 May 1730, Sir Robert Clifton signed a thirty eight year lease with the Earl of Breadalbane to mine any metals that he could discover on the earl's estate. In 1740, he discovered lead and established Tyndrum Mine the following year. Bad debts, however, led to his imprisonment in 1745, and he gave up his lease. Later in the 18th century, the Scots Mining Company operated the mine and built a smelting works nearby to turn the mined lead ore, called galena, into metal. Mining for lead, silver and gold continued at various times into the 20th century, but with limited success, however, gold mining continues in the area today. All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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