This is a small click lock container within a camo bag. There's a sharp pencil in the bag so be careful when opening it.
We placed this cache here as it's a place we walked to often as children, spending long hot summers here (yes we used to have them on occassion) swimming in the burn and generaly having great adventures. We didn't know any history at the time but just knew how much fun it was playing in the waterfall.
Little info known about The Dam but I'll share what I've read in a local history book;
"Lord Eglington, owner of lands around Kilmaurs in the 1800's, commissioned the building of a mill by the side of the Carmel Water. With the development and increases in grain harvests a larger mill was necessary but the flow of the Carmel Water at this point was not sufficient. It was then that the dam was built about half a mile upstream. To get water to the mill a lade was dug from the dam to the mill and a large pond was constructed in the corner of the field (now derelict Millholm Nursery). Before the miller used the mill he required to walk to the dam and open the sluice to supply water via the lade to operate the mill machinery. The last miller, Mr Kennedy, in fact used a bicycle to go to and from the dam."
On the way to the dam today we noticed large stones with hooks and chains...we pondered the thought that maybe this is where horses would be secured when the miller was opening the sluice?? We don't know but we'll add some pics for any info.
"The mill was demolished as a dangerous building (around the late 1980's) when a large bulge appeared in the outer wall in an area with rough rubble masonry, probably from the earlier mill."
In 1930 a young boy drowned at the Cat's Churn or "The Catty" at the New Dam. Learning this makes our childhood adventures even more daft. It's no wonder our parents would worry and tell us that we weren't allowed there. We went anyway! Eek
So, please be careful on approach to the dam. Busy road with no walkway coming from the Ladeside Road way. Although there is a small lay-by coming from the other direction on the Stewarton back road, we didn't come this way and unsure what the terrain would be like.
I'm also not sure if livestock still populate this field at times so be aware and respect the area. It was quite a treacherous short hike today to place this cache but I hope that it takes you on a wee adventure to a historical part of Kilmaurs.