Carriden - The Area
Carriden was a distinct parish long before Bo'ness sprang up adjacent to it, eventually reducing the village to just one of several eastern neighbourhoods of Bo'ness such as, Bridgeness, Cuffabouts, Grangepans, and Muirhouses. Its original name was Caer-edin, meaning 'Edin fort', with Eidin being an ancient British name for Edinburgh and its wider environs. The castle reference is thought to refer to the Antonine Wall Roman fort here, although the wall itself did not extend this far, stopping at nearby Bridgeness to the west.
There were significant settlements here for many centuries with a medieval village having been unearthed on the grounds of what is now Carriden House, and remains dating back to the 12th Century. The grounds of Carriden House also holds the former location of the original church for the village, also dating back to the 12th Century, and there is still some of the graveyard from that period still visible on the site. There have been a few Carriden churches since and the ruins of one of the later churches and the current Carriden church are viewable at the foot of Carriden Brae (the A904) where it turns West towards the centre of Bo'ness. The townscape of Carriden, along with Bridgeness and Muirhouses next to it, are listed as areas of notable original character on the Scottish Archaeology site Canmore, and Muirhouses is classified as a conservation area.
Carriden Estate (the wider area around Carriden House) was one of the two large estates that bookended Bo'ness as it sprawled during the period leading up to the industrial revolution and on into the Victorian era. Carriden House was the hub of a modest estate, which was associated with a number of wealthy residents over the centuries, including figures from industry and successful career soldiers. It was not in the same league as Kinneil Estate on the western side of Bo'ness, with it's claim to royal residents and elaborate interiors to the main House. The two estates did however both provide an enduring green buffer area as Bo'ness industry mushroomed, whereas some of the other grander houses and grounds nearer the hub of Bo'ness coal mining and industrial activity, were levelled to make way for the remorseless march of industry. These days the northern area of Carriden is part of the John Muir Way and a popular linear route between Bo'ness and Blackness to the East.
Carriden - The Cache Series
This series provides a circular tour of Carriden as well as touching the adjacent old villages of Bridgeness and Muirhouses (now swallowed up by Bo'ness). The entire route measures at about 3 miles, and the caches are quite spaced out, with the nearest being roughly 350 metres apart, but with some having large gaps between them due to a combination of existing caches/saturation rules and the switchback path that threads upwards through Carriden Glen. There has previously been a cache in the Carriden Glen area (GCJ9BB), but that was archived some years ago, so it seemed a good idea to put the area back on the cacher's map, with this series.
GPS/Terrain
Generally good GPS in the area, and most of the route is on good paths. However the part of the route from The Crookies (Cache 3), right up to The Tank (Cache 6), I found to be quite muddy. In particular take care between Carras Gate (Cache 5) and Little Bridges #2187 Carriden Falls as the stretch near the falls is both steep and slippy, a walking stick and good walking shoes are highly recommended.
Series Parking
Caches on the Western side of the route have very good parking, but it's private roads and tracks in the East side so you'll generally be walking into those rather than any cache-and-dash type approach. Where parking nearby is an option, a parking waypoint has been added to the relevant cache page, otherwise, the parking for doing the entire series as a single outing is indicated as a waypoint on this cache.
Carriden 1 - The Seawall
This is a multicache. The published coordinates are for the first stage but to find the final container you will need to visit all the stages picking up coordinate clues as you go. The stages will show you some of the hidden features of Carriden as you make your way around the series.
This is a low difficulty cache because the stages that you need to visit are all very near to the suggested route around the wider Carriden series, so if done as part of the series it will be straightforward. The multi's stage locations are all added as waypoints on this cache page.
Stage 1 is at the published coordinates for this cache, look for a bench with historical information on it. The information you need to retrieve at the other stages is explained below.
The final container is located at: N 56° 00.ABC W 003° 34.DEF
Stage 1/Published Coordinates - N 56° 01.096 W 003° 34.741
Look at the info about the vessel in question, first year mentioned, last digit = A
Stage 2 Colonel Gardner Memorial- N 56° 00.717 W 003° 33.937
Look at the second line of the inscription, first word, look at letters 2 and 3 of that word, using the common A=1, B=2 technique, subtract letter 3 from letter 2. The answer is = D. Subtract one from D to get E.
Stage 3 The Witches Stone - N 56° 00.540′ W 3° 34.115′
The stone has a number of prominent round holes in its rear. How many? Answer = B, and F as well.
For Stage 3 (Witches Stone) there has been a bit of debate on what the correct number is because the stone also has a single prominent hole slightly offset to the side as well as the number of holes at the rear. So without giving away the answer, the number you are looking for is an odd number.
Lastly, C = (D X E) + F. Now you should have all the coordinates to complete the coordinates above. There's also a hint for to help find the final. GPS is dodgy at the final so the clue is quite detailed. Checksum for the missing numbers is 17.