This structure is the old Drip Bridge which crosses the river Forth. The old bridge is a category A listed structure which was built circa 1773. I thought it deserved a cache and Burns poem “The Brigs of Ayr” seemed apt for this.
The other caches in this series are
Scots Wha Hae GC1JT2N
The Lea Rig GC1JT2R
Ca’ the Yowes and Hallowe’en GC1JT2Y
To a Mouse GC1KRWT
In the poem "The Brigs of Ayr" the auld and the new bridge have a conversation. Here Burns is experimenting with heroic couplets.
In the course of the dialogue, the Auld Brig prophesies to the New, "I'll be a brig when you're a shapeless cairn" and in 1877, the New Brig collapsed, the arch at the south end having been damaged by floods.
This area of the Forth is often flooded but I believe that the cache is safe.
Taken from the poem -
Auld Brig
"Conceited gowk! puff'd up wi' windy pride!
This mony a year I've stood the flood an' tide;
And tho' wi' crazy eild I'm sair forfairn,
I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!
As yet ye little ken about the matter,
But twa-three winters will inform ye better.
When heavy, dark, continued, a'-day rains,
A lesson sadly teaching, to your cost,
That Architecture's noble art is lost!"
The New Brig replies.
"Fine architecture, trowth, I needs must say't o't,
The Lord be thankit that we've tint the gate o't!
Gaunt, ghastly, ghaist-alluring edifices,
Hanging with threat'ning jut, like precipices;
O'er-arching, mouldy, gloom-inspiring coves,
Supporting roofs, fantastic, stony groves;
Windows and doors in nameless sculptures drest
With order, symmetry, or taste unblest;
Forms like some bedlam Statuary's dream,
The craz'd creations of misguided whim;
I leave you to decide whether this Auld Brig is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than modern structures.
