Visitors Centre
A series of summer exhibitions on the history of local lead mining took place in Wanlockhead in the mid 1970's. They were so successful that the Wanlockhead Museum Trust, which is a charitable body, was established in 1974 to interpret the history of the Scottish Lead industry. It started as a small cottage museum which gradually expanded to incorporate a visitor mine, two period cottages and visitors centre.
The trust opened its indoor museum at Goldscaur Row to visitors in 1976, and in 1978 completed the restoration of the library and the conservation of its unique bookstock. It held its first exhibition in the library in 1974 and in the first week had 900 visitors.
The old blacksmiths was purchased in 1982 and became the new visitors centre. In 1992 work started on a purpose designed extension building which incorporated a new exhibition area; a new museum shop; 60 seater tea-room and kitchen and new public toilets. The new exhibition area houses a large collection of minerals on loan from the national Museum of Scotland. It was these minerals and the mining of them that led to the founding of Wanlockhead Mining Museum.
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