Cockburn's Tomb Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A chapel once stood on this tranquil knoll, known locally as Chapel Knowe or Cockburn’s Wood. By 1603 the chapel was ruined: kirk records described it as ‘altogether down and equal with the earth.’ It is not clear whether the grave slab was ploughed up in a local field, or found within the chapel site, but it was pieced together and erected here in 1841.
The inscriptions on the slab seem to have been made at two separate times. The shield, cross and sword are probably from the 1300s. The words ‘Here lyes Perys [Piers] of Cokburne and his wife Marjory’ use a style of lettering popular in the 1500s.
The Cockburns were lairds of Henderland from the mid 1300s. They were closely involved in the brutal reiving activities that plagued the Borders in the 1500s and 1600s: William Cockburn was executed by King James in 1530. There is a legend that he was hanged in his own doorway, but records show he was beheaded in Edinburgh. His story inspired the tragic ‘Border Widows Lament’, one of Sir Walter Scott’s Border Ballads.
The cache is a cylindrical container. Inside are the usual swaps, a log book and a pencil.
**Congratulations to murboy of being First to Find**
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
va gur urneg bs gur gerr