~ Museum of Lead Mining, Wanlockhead ~

The Museum of Lead mining discovered some loose, unidentified panels of leaded glass in one of the Miners’ Cottages belonging to the Museum.

The individual panels were big, difficult to handle, fragile, dirty, and had been resting on a wooden bed mattress, the floor, and a rough bed of dried heather, undisturbed, for years.

They had previously been identified as having come from The Fraser Memorial Institute in Wanlockhead. The building, which was situated behind the present Museum Visitor Centre, was built in 1906 by three brothers, Archibald, John and William Fraser, in memory of their parents John and Isobel Milligan Fraser. The Institute provided the miners with a reading room, billiard table, function hall and bathing facilities. It closed in 1964 and was eventually demolished.

I was asked to further research, photograph, safely store and condition report all of the panels, prior to a further grant application for their conservation and display.

My thanks are due to Rona Moody and Fiona Lister for their expert assistance with this work. We were able  to accurately identify eight of the panels: they were from a beautiful Memorial Window to Peggy Fraser, Archibald’s eldest daughter, who died in 1915. One panel is still missing.

The second window is, as yet, unidentified, but appears to also be from the same building, but possibly a later memorial. Any thoughts / suggestions about the second window would be gratefully received. Research is ongoing.