An account of the struy lead mines, Inverness-shire, and of wulfenite, harmotome, and other minerals which occur there

Abstract

The Struy lead mines (Six-inch ordnance Survey, Inverness-shire, sheet 17) are situated on the west side of Strath Glass, about two miles south-west of Struy village, and comprise three distinct sets of small long-abandoned workings, two of them being in the nature of trials only. All three workings are shown on the six-inch map, and are on veins traversing the Moine schists. The Geological Survey Memoir of the district says that four veins may be traced on the hill face between the Dùn south of Struy school and Crelevan; if this is correct there are two outcrops I have not seen. The mines are on what was until a few years ago part of Lord Lovat's estate. The date of their discovery is not known, but they were apparently worked about the year 1818 by Thomas Alexander Fraser (afterwards 12th Lord Lovat) at the same time as his graphite mine in Strath Farrar; most of the work seems, however, to have been done by him between 1838 and 1845, when miners were brought from England and housed in cottages specially built for them in Struy village. In 1864 the Loch na Mèine workings were cleared and prospected, but since then no further work has been done.