A lovely 18th century cottage, steeped in mining history. In its first phase of mining the cottage probably housed two families. To the right of the fireplace there are still the remains of the wooden fixings for the box bed and to the left of the lounge window is a wall space which housed the family slop bucket. It now houses the ash bucket and wooden kindling for the fire. The downstairs  had two rooms and there were no upstairs bedrooms. The loft space would have been used in Victorian times as bedroom space and access by ladder. The cottage at this time was heather thatched. At the back of the cottage is the remains of the old byre, which housed the family cow (the tethering ring is still in the wall). It is now a walled area with a picnic table.
The cottage did not come into private ownership until 1903 when it was purchased from The Duke of Buccleuch by John Lorimer, a timberman in the mines.

In the 18th century life expectancy for miners would be about 40 years. The mortality rate of children was also high and many of the children worked washing the ore, standing in water in the cold winter weather. The miners were paid once a year and all their purchases from the company store had to be repaid. Some miners were still in debt when they died and their debt was passed onto their eldest son. In the latter mining stages the miners had their own co-operative store which improved their standard of living. In spite of all their adversities they valued education and had one of the earliest lending libraries in the country. Wanlockhead had its writers and poets and it was a Wanlockhead engineer who designed the first steam boat. The miners would pan for gold to make wedding rings for their wives. Wanlockhead gold has a lovely bright colour. Learn to goldpan at the museum.

The BBC recently re-named the village Hope Springs for their Sunday night drama “Hope Springs”. Much of the filming took place nearby. The Youth Hostel, was the Hope Springs Hotel and the cottages on the left just before you turn into Long Row were the little village shops. Goldpan Cottage appears in several shots and is easy to identify. The series stars Alex Kingston and Annette Crosbie and was made by Shed Productions. The film makers were very sympathetic to local village life and were very popular with the locals, some were used as extras, including one of our guests.