This cache is placed at Maybole Covenanters Memorial. It is not a cache n dash - you will need to park and walk a short distance along the road to get to it.
The Covenanters were those people in Scotland who signed the National Covenant in 1638. They signed this Covenant to confirm their opposition to the interference by the Stuart kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Maybole was a stronghold for the Covenanting cause of the late 17th century. One of the leading Covenanters, Donald Cargill, preached at a conventicle at Ladycross in May 1681. A large whinstone boulder marked the meeting place where the conventicles were held. The stone was broken up in the 19th century with most of it used to construct the base of the Memorial on the Cross Roads, standing in the corner of a field where Cargill had preached.
Ayrshire sent around 1,000 men to fight at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. Six Maybole men were among the Covenanting prisoners who were sent to America as slaves, having refused to change their beliefs. Many drowned when their ship, the Crown of London, sank near the Orkney Islands. The six names of the Maybole men who drowned are inscribed on the monument at Maybole near the place where Donald Cargill preached in May 1681. Cargill was hanged in Edinburgh in July of the same year. His name appears on the base of the monument.
Part of the stone was embedded into the wall of Cargill Church with the inscription: “This is part of the stone beside which Donald Cargill is believed to have conducted a Conventicle on the farm of Cargilstone during the Covenanting period 1638-1688”.
The CO has a particular interest in this memorial as one of his ancestors was aboard the ship together with those named on the memorial, and in fact his ancestor was one of the fortunate 9 who managed to escape. Had his ancestor not survived this cache would not have been placed!
Read more at Bob Miller's Account of the Wreck of the Crown of London - see if you can find the names on the memorial on the list.
There is also more information at Orkneyjar
Safety First! Parking right at the cache is not recommended. Although it is on a quiet road, vehicles passing by do so at speed. A safe off-road parking place has been suggested. Please take special care when walking along to the memorial; this cache is probably best sought in good daylight visibility. Watch out for jaggies at GZ!