Tyndrum

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Tyndrum/Taigh an Druim
Tyndrum/Taigh an Druim shown within Scotland
Population	167
OS grid reference	NN330303
Council area	Stirling Council
Lieutenancy area	Stirling and Falkirk
Constituent country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Crianlarich
Postcode district	FK20
Dialling code	01838
Police	Central Scotland
Fire	Central Scotland
Ambulance	Scottish
European Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Stirling
Scottish Parliament	Stirling
List of places: UK • Scotland

Coordinates: 56°26′07″N 4°42′36″W / 56.43524, -4.71009

Tyndrum (Taigh an Droma in Gaelic) is a small village in Scotland. Its Gaelic name translates as "the house on the ridge". It lies in Strathfillan, at the southern edge of Rannoch Moor.

An unusually quiet road scene at Tyndrum

The village is notable mainly for being at an important crossroads of transport routes. The West Highland Line (a railway) from Glasgow splits approximately five miles to the south at Crianlarich, with one branch heading to Fort Willam and the other to Oban. Tyndrum has a station on each: Upper Tyndrum on the Fort William route and Tyndrum Lower on the Oban route. The somewhat unusual situation exists of two stations serving the same relatively small community, separated physically by only a few hundred yards, but about ten miles apart by rail. This is a legacy of the history of the railways in the area, after two separate railways belonging to different railway companies were built through the village. Roads mirror this division: the A82 passes through Tyndrum between Glasgow and Fort William, whilst the A85 to Oban splits off just north of the village.

Tyndrum is a popular tourist village, and is also on the West Highland Way, and has a campsite, hotel, bunkhouse and bed and breakfasts to accommodate walkers.

Overshadowed by Ben Lui, one of the Munros, Tyndrum is also built over the battlefield on which, in 1306 AD, clan MacDougall defeated Robert the Bruce and took from him the Brooch of Lorne.

Tyndrum is also a former gold mining centre. The hamlet of Clifton (the row of cottages over the A82 from the Green Welly) are the former mining cottages, and up on the hillside beyond them the tailings of a former lead mine can be seen. The actual gold mine is a couple of miles to the south and west of Tyndrum at Cononish, situated above Cononish Farm. Although the entrance is now closed off, walkers can explore the site and rangers encourage visitors to take home a souvenir from the thousands of sample cores lying on decaying wooden racks. The owners are reportedly attempting to reactivate the mine. The rivers around Tyndrum are a popular haunt for gold panners, which some of the landowners tolerate providing the panners do not use mechanical means of extraction.