Backstone Beck Bramble Bench
The cache, a camo-taped preform tube, has been placed as a starter bonus for those heading further up Backstone Beck to do the Stanza Stones 'Beck' cache.
Although close to the well-used Hangingstone Road, the hide location is at an otherwise pleasant periodically peaceful green spot where there is an old wooden bench at the side of the steeply sloping Backstone Gill surrounded by rampant brambles, nettles and other wild plants. Spending a few moments here you may well spot (and/or hear) several species of local birds.
To reach the cache location: park roadside on Maxwell Road @ or near N 53 55.162 W 1 48.578, carefully cross the (busy) main road and enter the woodland through the small gate opposite. Head right to the cache location nearby.
A 'bramble' is any rough, tangled, prickly shrub, usually in the genus Rubus (Rose family) which grows blackberries, raspberries, or dewberries. Bramble or brambleberry sometimes refers to the blackberry fruit or products of its fruit, such as bramble jelly.
In British English, it usually refers to the common blackberry, Rubus fruticosus which grows abundantly all over Britain. Harvesting the fruits in late summer and autumn is a popular pastime for many. Bramble fruits are aggregate fruits and each small unit is called a drupelet.
It is distinguished from its raspberry relatives by the fact that the torus (receptacle or stem) 'picks' or stays with the fruit. With a raspberry, the torus remains on the plant, leaving a hollow core in the fruit.
Mexico (17%) is by far the largest producer of blackberries in the world at around 270,000 tons (2018) grown on over 12,500 hectares. See here for detailed & comprehensive info on this valuable and delicious fruit.
Bramble is a particularly hardy plant and can become a nuisance in gardens. It sends down strong suckering roots amongst hedges and shrubs and is very resilient against pruning. It is regarded as a weed due its rampant growth in neglected areas (like the cache location) and its sharp, tough thorns which can be hazardous to children, pets . . . and geocachers.
Uses: many species are grown and bred for their fruit regarded by some as a ' superfood'. It has significant 
quantities of vitamin C, fibre and vitamin K and is also notable for its manganese and folic acid contect. Although the seeds may not be popular with some consumers they contain oil rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fats.
Ornamental species can be grown for flowers (eg. Rubus trilobus) for their ornamental stems (eg. Rubus cockburnianus) and some as ground cover (eg. Rubus tricolor). Members of the Rubus genus tend to have a brittle, porous core and an oily residue along the stalk which makes them ideal to burn, even in damp climates. Thorny varieties are sometimes grown for game cover and occasionally for protection.
Most species are important for their conservation and wildlife value in their native range. The flowers attract nectar-feeding butterflies and hoverflies.
Brambles are important food plants for the larvae of several species of Lepidoptera that feed on Rubus. The nutritious ripe berries, which appear in late July, are eaten and their seeds dispersed by several birds (eg. blackbird) and mammals (eg. foxes, badgers and geocachers).
Split bramble stems are traditionally used as binding material for straw in production of lipwork basketry (using coiled straw), such as lipwork chairs and bee skeps and sometimes used to protect other fruits such as strawberries. Stem fibres have even been used to make string.
The popular pastime of blackberry picking (blackberrying) goes back 1000s of years. Ripe juicy blackberries have high vitamin C content and can be eaten raw or cooked. They are added to pies, crumbles, wines, jams, jellies and vinegar. Strong ale brewed from blackberries, malt and hops was popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Bramble has been widely used in traditional medicine, since at least the time of the ancient Greeks, for its 
healing and detoxifying properties. The leaves are rich in tannin and have antibacterial properties. They are made into an astringent tea and used to relieve sore throats, mouth ulcers, diarrhoea and thrush.
Blackberry bushes can prevent soil erosion on infertile, disturbed sites and the ancient Britons used thorny stems as a boundary or barrier in the way we use barbed wire.
Listen here to a fascinating BBC podcast on the place of Brambles in art, literature, forensics and religion.