Talk:Wanlockhead

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I am the son of the last manager of the mine, Anthony Oliver (1923-2001). He worked at the mine from I believe late 1952 just before I was born and we moved away, for sure, in November 1958. The owners reopened the mine as lead prices soared because of the Korean war and closed it as prices slumped back. I got the impression it had just being recommissioned when it closed. He moved to South Crofty in Cornwall and then became a nuclear engineer concerned in building power stations for the rest of his working life. Most of the miners worked for a while on the Daer Dam project and the original A74 dual carriageway project, but by the time I went back, it seems most houses had become holiday homes or for Glasgow commuters.

I visited the village in 1980 and introduced myself to a woman running the village museum. However she seemed more interested in knowing whether I was an Oliver of Hawick or an Oliver of somewhere else (neither in fact - my parents were both English) than that my father who was then alive and still working could have contributed massively to the museum, and after five minutes I gave up trying to talk to her. I have never visited it since.

I have seen a few effects about Wanlockhead that he had kept and my sister has my Dad's papers somewhere. Should someone be genuinely interested in this stuff contact me at ian dot oliver 3 at btinternet dot com

Ian Oliver

I live in the village and I agree with Ian Oliver. The village is going down every day. nearly all of the houses are holiday homes. Also the people at the museum arent very friendly and it is boring really. They were trying to get funding money because they said that they would close if they didnt get it, but they have plenty of money.