The other caches in this series are
Scots Wha Hae GC1JT2N
Now Spring has Clad her Mantle Green GC1JT2W
Ca’ the Yowes and Hallowe’en GC1JT2Y
The Auld Brig GC1JT2V
To a Mouse GC1KRWT
This is a lovely walk alongside the Bannock Burn.
Sauchie Craig is designated a site of Ancient Woodland.
This is a term used to refer specifically to woodland dating back to 1750 in Scotland. Before this, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1750 was likely to have developed naturally.
However, this cache could have been called The Limestone Kilns as this is your destination rather than a walk into the interior of the Craig where the Ancient Woodland really is. The kilns are impressive.
The cache takes you close to a row of 19th Century limekilns. The large access arches allowed limestone to be fed into the kilns, and the smaller openings acted as draw holes, sucking air into the fires inside. Vast quantities of lime were used to “sweeten” the acid soils of the Carse of Stirling, which were being reclaimed from bogland at this time. It is strange to imagine the smoke and noise that must have filled these woods only 150 years ago. The New Statistical Account of 1842 states that these workings and the neighbouring kilns on Sauchie Craig together employed 34 miners and labourers, earning between 10 and 16 shillings per week.
The Lea Rig.
When o'er the hill the eastern star
Tells bughtin time is near, my jo,
And owsen frae the furrow'd field
Return sae dowf and weary, O,
Down by the burn, where scented birks
Wi' dew are hangin clear, my jo.
I'll meet thee on the lea-rig,
My ain kind dearie, O.
At midnight hour in mirkest glen
I'd rove, and ne'er be eerie, O,
If thro' that glen I gaed to thee,
My ain kind dearie, O!
Altho' the night were ne'er sae wild,
And I were ne'er sae weary, O,
I'll meet thee on the lea-rig,
My ain kind dearie, O.
The hunter lo'es the morning sun
To rouse the mountain deer, my jo;
At noon the fisher takes the glen
Adown the burn to steer, my jo:
Gie me the hour o' gloamin grey
It maks my heart sae cheery, O,
To meet thee on the lea-rig,
My ain kind dearie, O!