Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 36 on 14/12/2007.

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Scotland's very own gold rush

Nick Todd reveals the history of Scotland's gold, and where to find it today.

“There’s gold in them there hills,” was the cry in 1868 when Robert Gilchrist discovered gold at Kildonan, in the north of Scotland. He was not the first to find gold in Sutherland, though. In 1818, 50 years before, the very first discovery of a nugget of gold as heavy as 10 pennies was found. The nugget was made into a ring for the then Duke of Sutherland.

To this day, this ring is still owned by the Sutherland family.

It was, however, as early as 1239 that gold was first found in Scotland. Since then it has been regularly mined at Leadhills in Lanarkshire, and also at Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway, 1531 feet above sea level, making it the highest village in Scotland.

Throughout the 16th century Scottish gold was found in abundance. Bevis Beaver, one of the most famous gold prospectors of the second half of that century, made a massive £100,000 fortune, in today’s terms amounting to several million pounds, with some of his nuggets weighing in at five to six ounces. Scottish gold was used in the crowns of James V and his second wife, Mary de Guise. It was also used for many Royal gifts and for most of the gold coins used throughout his reign and that of Mary Queen of Scots.

Royal gifts of Scottish gold have continued to this very day. Upon the opening of Scottish Parliament in 1999, the queen gifted a mace, within which is a ring of Scottish gold. Even though all gold is technically the property of the Crown, the gold itself was donated by the individual panners wh.....

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By Nick Todd

Section : Scotland Gold

Page number : 42