Although lead was probably worked at Leadhills in the time of the Roman occupation it is said that the lead was discovered in the year 1513 in the bed of a small rivulet which runs through the village, but records of the mining operations do not reach farther back than to about the year 1600. However, in so far as this paper is concerned the property of Leadhills was acquired by Sir James Hope of Hopetoun when he married on 14 January 1638, Anna, the daughter and heiress of Robert Foulis of Leadhills, a wealthy goldsmith in Edinburgh. He paid great attention to the working of the mines there" (W. A . J . Prevost, "Lord Hopetoun’s Mine at Leadhills: Illustrated by David Allan and Paul Sandby." Transactions of Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society ser. 3, vol. 54 (1979): 86)