Braw Clan’s summer production, Secret Wrapped In Lead, is based on the journal of Dorothy Wordsworth who travelled to Scotland in 1803. Along with her brother William and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, she visited Leadhills and was interested in its progressive miners’ library.

Founded in 1741, it’s Britain’s oldest subscription library and the world’s first library for working people. It was also the first library in Britain to practice an early form of lifelong learning called Mutual Improvement.

Dorothy was a prolific diarist and Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, 1803 is considered her masterpiece. It’s notable in part for her impressions of the lives of ordinary people, including her grumpy Leadhills landlady, Mrs Otto.

Helen McAlpine, who’s playing Dorothy, says:

“I’m really excited to get to work on this play alongside such a dynamic, creative bunch of people. Working where we live, instead of having to travel to Glasgow, Edinburgh or even London is a very rare opportunity for actors. It feels wonderful to be performing for local communities in Clydesdale.

Dorothy’s work is often overlooked in favour of her brother’s, but she was a remarkable writer and William borrowed freely from her journals, including a passage which appears to have directly inspired his most famous poem, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud.

She had a very keen eye. That’s something I’ll be thinking about as we go into rehearsal.”

Fletcher Mathers, who’ll play Mrs Otto, is also interested in the historical background to her character.

Fletcher says:

“Seeing photographs of Mrs Otto’s house, and meeting people who’ve actually lived there, makes her feel incredibly close. Many years separate us but through Dorothy’s writing we get a sense of her personality.

That three such important writers visited Leadhills, particularly at a time when travel was so difficult, is fascinating. Telling these stories is what Braw Clan is all about.”

Read more about background to Secret Wrapped In Lead, and book tickets here.