Lime has long been an important resource in the area, initially as a building material, and then as a way of increasing agricultural production. Spread on fields it counteracts the build up of acidic ions in the soil, allowing crops to make use of the nutrients otherwise locked away. Yields can increase dramatically after using lime.
With the industrial revolution, lime was in great demand for agriculture, construction and new chemical industries. The small local kilns were supplanted by large industrial scale kilns, like the one you see before you and at Trowbarrow. It ran continuously, burning the rock from the hill behind. The local coppiced woodland used for fuel, could no longer keep pace with demand and coal from Lancashire arrived on the railway, which also took the lime away.
For an informative leaflet about lime burning, from Arnside & Silverdale AONB, click here.
A new Geotrail was opened in November '13 which circles Storth. There is a very informative leaflet to guide budding geologists around the interesting sites. It runs past several of our earlier caches, and now this one, which we placed to celebrate the new GeoTrail! Click here for the trail leaflet.
The cache is not in the kiln structure. The area is wheelchair accessible but assistance to retrieve the cache might be needed. Mind the road, although it's a 'back road', it can be surprisingly busy at times! Park NE of the kiln in the wide area. Don't park in the area by the boulders, which is only for the office further along. Black micro vial, under big boulder and behind small stones.