From the landscape scarred by centuries of mine workings to the humble single-storey whitewashed cottages dotted along the hillside, Wanlockhead doesn’t seem much like a major visitor attraction.
I’ve arrived in the centre of this tiny Scottish village surrounded by relics of its industrial past. It’s a chilly, windswept place lurking among a range of dark, smooth mountains.
But it has a big claim to fame, for this scattered settlement, harbouring just 150 hardy souls, is Scotland’s highest village. It attracts thousands of visitors a year – who come to see what it’s like living at 1,531ft (466 metres) above sea level.
Like me, they find that there’s a hidden charm to Wanlockhead that’s more than just its position at the top of the altitude hierarchy.
For outsiders, the first surprise is that Wanlockhead is not in the snowy northern Highlands, but in the little-known southwest corner of the country. Galloway’s Southern Uplands may sound rather tame compared to the Grampians and Cairngorms, but they include some serious peaks, ski resorts and this, the country’s loftiest settlement.
Simon Heptinstall visits Wanlockhead – Scotland’s highest village
Wanlockhead attracts thousands of visitors a year – who come to see what it’s like living at 1,531ft (466 metres) above sea level
The Lead Mining Museum is much more fascinating than it sounds, says Simon
That makes it easier for visitors. Unlike those remote Highland spots, Wanlockhead is a doddle to get to.
It’s just seven miles from the motorway. It takes me less than an hour’s drive from central Glasgow. The roads around the village, although sweeping through spectacular scenery, are wonderfully wide and smooth.
Nevertheless, the village pub has a crazy end-of-the-road atmosphere. I find the Wanlockhead Inn in trees at one of the village’s highest points looking out over distant mountains. There’s a replica bright orange ‘General Lee’ muscle car from TV’s Dukes of Hazzard at the entrance, a collection of wooden glamping pods in the garden and the feel of a student bar inside.
I spot a stolen 40mph speed limit sign on the wall, some motorbike bits, autographed electric guitars and a menu that includes ‘I Don’t Care Burgers’ with or without cheese for £7.50. Scotland’s highest pub brews its own beer and holds an annual ‘Jocktober Beer Fest’ that includes haggis currywurst. A sign inside says ‘unsupervised children will be given an espresso and a free puppy’.
Apart from its entertaining inn, Wanlockhead’s main attraction sounds a little more heavy-duty. But the Lead Mining Museum is much more fascinating than it sounds.
Wanlockhead is in the ‘little-known’ southwest corner of Scotland
Wanlockhead is a ‘doddle to get to’, writes Simon, as it’s less than an hour’s drive from central Glasgow
A replica ‘General Lee’ muscle car from TV’s Dukes of Hazzard sits at the entrance to the Wanlockhead Inn
The village pub ‘has a crazy end-of-the-road atmosphere’
The pub menu includes ‘I Don’t Care Burgers’ with or without cheese for £7.50
A sign inside the pub warning parents what will happen if their children go unsupervised
It is essentially a tour of the area based around the central museum, which is housed in the village’s old smithy. This historic spot is where Robbie Burns once stopped in the snow to have his horse reshod with crampon-style shoes. He paid for the work by writing the poem ‘Pegasus’ and giving it to the blacksmith.
Today, sadly, poems won’t do, you have to buy a ticket. But it’s worth it because the museum is just part of a trail telling the story of mining for lead, copper and gold, here since Roman times. Marked paths wind through the valley to miners’ cottages, an atmospheric reading room and the UK’s only intact water-powered beam engine.
Most exciting is a short tour of a mine tunnel complete with helmets and torches.
There are even rows of sinks alongside the babbling village stream – for visitors to try their hands at gold panning. It’s such a common local skill that the world gold panning championships were held here this year, attracting expert prospectors from all over the world.
At the unglamorous site between the car park and cottage gardens it seems unlikely I’d ever find gold. But later I learn that the gravel in many of the burns in the area contain abundant amounts of small flakes of gold and even the odd nugget.
Some visitors get excited enough to buy their own equipment and a licence from the museum. There are 30-minute gold panning taster courses available or a serious prospector’s five-hour course with local professional prospector Leon Kirk, who found a nugget worth £15,000 this spring.
Local gold was used to form the Scottish parliamentary mace. In fact, some of the purest gold ever found in the world was discovered in these chilly hillside brooks. The 22.8-carat gold from Wanlockhead panned here in the 16th century was considered such a prize example that it was used to make the Crown of Scotland.
But gold or no gold, visiting Wanlockhead is a valuable experience.
More info: visitscotland.com.
Where to stay: Timber glamping pods at the Wanlockhead Inn start at £20 a person. Visit wanlockheadinn.co.uk/accommodation.
Simon writes: ‘The roads around the village, although sweeping through spectacular scenery, are wonderfully wide and smooth’