This is the first in a short series of three geocaches on an esponage theme, placed in the vicinity of historic Westquarter Village. The first two caches in the series are traditionals and the final is a Mystery cache, that can only be found using clues collected at the other two caches. If going for all three at the same time then you will probably need to bring along some paper and pen for a bit of in-the-field puzzle solving, plus of course your smartphone. The other caches in the series are:
Spycraft 2 - Suitcase At The Bridge Of Spies - GC8P04M
Spycraft 3 - Number Station In The Glen - GC8P046
The puzzle (cache 3 in the series) is a relatively straightforward one. All 3 caches are within a triangular area that is roughly 0.6 miles in perimeter, so a shortish walk to pick up all 3. There's also a bit of info in each of the cache descriptions on Westquarter's history. This series takes in the picturesque Westquarter Glen - previously the site of two caches a few years back (now archived), so this series is a bit of a redux. A quick note of thanks for the CO of those archived caches, as this series was only made possible by some responsible archiving on the CO's part.
As is befitting a cache about spies, this one has the 'stealth required' attribute, and there are several houses nearby, so please be considerately covert in your search so as not to disturb local residents. The historic landmark featured in this cache is not routinely open to the public, and the gate to it is normally locked. So the cache is located just at the gate.
Dead Drop
The first of the series focuses on the dead drop or "dead letter box" which is a technique in spy tradecraft used to pass items between two individuals (or an organizations and individual) using a secret location. It avoids the need for a direct meeting and all the risks that might entail. This technique is differentiated to a 'live drop', so-called because two persons meet to exchange items or information.
Spycraft 1 - Dead Drop At The Dovecote
The authorities in Falkirk Community are locked in a covert struggle with separists looking to secede from its control - The People's Democratic Republic of Westquarter (PDRW). The PDRW should not of course be confused with the The Democratic People's Republic of Westquarter, or indeed The Peoples Republic of Democratic Westquarter, which are entirely unrelated in scope, aims and membership to the PDRW or its affiliates 
. The cache site is a secret dead drop for local PDRW agents. As an elite agent of the Falkirk authorites your mission is a simple one. This dead drop is used by the PDRW's spy commanders to provide agents in the field, with details of new decoding information for their number station (a secret one-way radio broadcast to pass coded instructions to field agents) - more on that later in the cache series. These decoding details are being left at the dead drop somehow. You are required to intercept the decoding details at the dead drop, resolve any trickery the PDRW may have left to throw you off the scent, then take a note of the discovered numbers , so any PDRW number station broadcasts can be intercepted and (with certain other information) deciphered. YOU MUST NOT REMOVE THE DECODER DETAILS FROM THE DEAD DROP - otherwise the enemy agents will realise it has been compromised. Once you have circumvented any PDRW misdirection, be wary, as Falkirk authority's moles suspect that one of the numbers is clearly different to the others...
You will need those decoder details (and another clue at cache 2) to find the 3rd cache - GC8P046.
Of course, you could just enjoy a nice traditional cache at an interesting historical location . More on that below.
The Cache Setting - Westquarter House & Dovecote
The name Westquarter first appears in the written record in the mid 16th century when it is described not surprisingly as ‘the fourth part of the lands of Redding commonly called Westquarter.’ It had already been in the possession of the Livingston family for 150 years by then and remained there until the early 20th century. The family were closely related to the Livingstons of Callendar House and were often involved in the same historic events as their Falkirk cousins (see my cache trail in nearby Callendar Park just to the west, for more about the Falkirk Livingstons). The Westquarter Livingstons built a substantial manorial dwelling of which there is no trace in the village now, however it is known the family had such a dwelling in the village in the early 17th century, with a date stone of 1626. The house was described by one observer in the 19th century as “beyond comparison the most picturesque residence in the eastern district of Stirlingshire” though another more local visitor thought it “an exceedingly rude piece of architecture – not improved in appearance either by its plebian coat of faded yellow”.
This first of the Livingston's manorial houses in Westquarter was demolished in 1884 and the only survivor from the early period is a handsome lectern style dovecote (near gz for this cache) bearing the date 1647 and the initials WL for Sir William Livingstone and HL for Dame Henenore Livingstone his wife. The dovecote itself may be of a later period (circa 18th Century) with a heraldic date stone reset from another building. It is still in impressive condition, virtually untouched from its original state. The door is in the centre of the south side, and above it is the heraldic panel referred to above, dated 1647.
In 1884 a new baronial style mansion was built for Thomas Fenton Livingstone and it survived until the radical redevelopment of the Westquarter estate in the 1930s, eventually being demolished. The site of the last of the former Westquarter Manorial Houses for the Livingston family (pictured below), is an area of waste ground on Cedar Crescent (N 55° 59.385' W 3° 44.710'), about 130m NW of the Dovecote.
