Description

Siccar Point is a small headland located in Redheugh bay. Between Pease Bay and Fast Castle. It would be unremarkable except that it was here in 1786 geologist and gentleman farmer James Hutton recognised the implication of a rock formation.

At Siccar point the lower part of the cliff shows layers of grey shale tilted to lie almost vertically, then immediately above this the upper part of the cliff shows near horizontal layers of red sandstone. This rock formation has became known as "Hutton's Unconformity".

James Hutton reasoned that there must have been several cycles, each involving deposition on the seabed, uplift with tilting and erosion then undersea again for further layers to be deposited, and there could have been many cycles before over an extremely long history. At Siccar Point around 1786 he remarked of this discovery of geological time "that we find no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end", and when he brought John Playfair to see the strata, Playfair commented that "the mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss of time".

So it was here that the true age of the earth started to dawn on humanity.

You can can start your walk to the cache from several places, Pease Bay, Old Cambus Quarry, or Redheugh Farm. You can then walk along the cliff tops, to Siccar Point then descending to the cache site. Where you get an excellent view of "Hutton's Unconformity". There is also an large cave to explore when the tide is out.

If the tide is out you can walk west to Pease Bay along the shore, this does involve some difficult rock scrabling. Therefore please only attempt this in good conditions, when the tide is out.

Warning

The brae down to the cache is very steep. The area is also remote so please tell someone where you are going. If you do walk along the shore be aware of the tide, as you could easily become stranded.

Contents

You'll have to visit the cache to find out what's inside. Suffice to say the content is varied and consists of quality items, so bring some nice things to exchange.

Local Information

To find out more about the local area visit the St. Abbs Community Website.