Over this set of Caches you will find out some of the History
of the Dixon family that had the iron works and the pit here.
This road used to be a railway line which ran the coal from the
pit to the iron works, and once the railway line was opened at Wilsontown
it was ran futher afield.
William Dixon, the new proprietor of Wilsontown, was recognised
as a man of unusual foresight. As a youth of seventeen years
he had come to the West of Scotland from Northumberland in the
year 1770 to seek his fortune, having at an early age already
acquired a knowledge of coalfields and the winning of coal.
He started at Govan Coalworks, which was started in 1766 to
the south of the city of Glasgow, and working with a will he
soon became lessee and eventually proprietor of the Govan coalfield.
When Calder Ironworks were established at Whifflet in the year 1795
, William Dixon was one of the partners and latterly he became sole
owner, so that besides having the early experience in the management
of coal pits he had been closely associated with the iron business
for many years. He died in 1824, almost three years after he
purchased Wilsontown, and was succeeded in the business by his
second son, William, who had been trained, from his youth in the
personal management of his father's huge undertaking.
this can be a busy path with dog walkers and just walkers alone
so stealth maybe required at times