I am a local historian for the East Kilbride area, and I often look over reference material for the surrounding areas. I have noticed a cave marked on an OS map and want to know more.
I have access to around 700 books, 200 manuscripts, 75 maps, and countless other records for the surrounding area, which I would say represents an almost complete record of the districts. Any other information if it exists must be in private hands because I have scoured every library & archive, and council holdings in Scotland, England, Ireland, and most of the available collections of international universities in search of local East Kilbride info. a majority of these books cover Hamilton & don't mention it!
Apart from the one marking of 'The Cave' on OS maps I cannot find any mention of this cave in any of the works I have available to reference!
This makes me very eager to find out more about what this cave is, and to know if any local info exists. I believe there may be something held at Hamilton Library about it, but nobody there can find anything. and all my reference material concentrates on East Kilbride, but I would expected to have seen at least one mention of it. There is no mention on the Web either.
It is located in a tributary which feeds the Avon. It is west of Chatelherault/Cadzow, in the Meikle Burn Glen. It is marked beside a waterfall. Does anybody know the history of this cave???
This is purely speculation, but because the cave is shown beside a waterfall and listed as 'The Cave' instead of just 'Cave', I assume there is some story attached to it. From its appearance on the map it has the look of a lost beauty spot about it, so I assumed it would have some history.
Funny enough because of my work schedule I have only been able to visit a lot of places at night which is never good for visibility. Those of you reading the Bothwell Castle Tunnel thread will see this rings true. LOL
Anyway, last night I ventured to near the site. I could not find anything in the dark, but the river certainly occupies a steep tributary gorge. I will be going back in daytime. The site looks a likely candidate for cave(s).
Has anybody seen these caves, or is even aware of their existance, even if they have only seen them on a map? I can't be the only one. There must be some history.
I went with a few friends to see the Cadzow Oaks, and then we ventured over towards the cave just as it got dark. From the steep eastern banks above the Meikle Burn we peered down the gorge. To my delight, and the awe of my friends we saw what appears to be a large 'real' cave with its entrance starting from the edge of the burn. We could see a large dark entrance leading into the side of the gorge. Sure, we would have to get back and find our way to the entrance, so we could judge the caves depth, but its entrance was remarkable. I can only assume the spring marked on the maps issues from the cave's mouth. Once again, I emphasize, a 'real' 'proper' cave!
Funny, a proper large cave in Lanarkshire with no apparent paper trail behind it???
Surely there must be something written down, or someone knows more?
On Tuesday 23rd of March myself & three friend ventured out to find this cave. Due to the precipitous nature of the burn valley, with its rocky gorge, & insufficient map data, we decided to start from dowstream adjacent to Barncluith Estate.
Venturing into the gorge it represents a valley very similar to those of the South and Rotten Calders, but with a narrower channel and gorge, but equally dramatic rocky heights. We came to the conclusion that due to the appearance and situation of the site, very few people have been there in recent years. There were a number of mineral rich springs with mineral buildup issuing from several parts of the cliffs. The channel also exhibits some pleasing rapid channels and small waterfalls. One section has a burn dropping vertically from the gorge into the Meikle Burn throwing fine spray everywhere.
After about 1.5 hours we reached the cave site. The cave represents an area of hard rock outcrop creating a steeply sloping overhang rising from the riverside at about a 40-45 degree angle before rising up vertically. At the back is a shallow hollow area of little room. An empty gas canister, and two office seats, perfectly dry, were sitting in the cave waiting for us. There was some evidence that the cave has bore shallow inscriptions of names, dates, initials, etc.. All seem to be recent. One part of the vertical cave entrance is a circular hollow which was filled with moss and grass creating an old birds nest. The cave sits in view of a small pleasing waterfall.
The cave would be best described as a cove or rock shelter which provides good cover from the elements and certainly has the appearance of a hiding place about it, with subtle extensive views to the hillside above the opposite banks.
It should be noted that this cave is not enclosed, it is an exposed shelter under overhanging rock. From the back of the cave it radiates out in a V shape towards the burn.
I hope you made the appropriate preparations, and had this suitably propped and supported before you ventured below, in order to keep the Elfin Safety brigade happy. I'm sure they would have required a Risk Assessment of such a location, in order to ensure the safety of those below, in the event the rock parted from planet earth while the party was below.
Given the presence of the the seats awaiting you, I'm almost surprised you didn't find empty Buckfast bottle and cans strewn around, not to mention the odd burnt-out car hidden down there.
On one occasion when i visited the carvings at Blantyre, beneath the old priory, I decided to walk along the path to the south and east, along the river, rather than just climbing down and back up to the priory.
There's really little road access, and no tracks that lead to the river, but on the day I walked that section, I found two abandoned and burnt-out vehicles shells amidst the trees on the grassy hillside between the cliff-top and the river. They had clearly been there a while, and there was no evidence of tracks leading to them, but the intriguing thing was that a casual glance around the surroundings didn't show any obvious route that they could have arrived by. It's conceivable they were pushed from the top, but even that looked unlikely, as there was no remaining damage trail - or maybe they really had been there for years and years.
Anyway, the Meikle Burn cave description is interesting, and the route described - with the various water features, makes it sound as if the place also looks, or could look, quite nice if visited on a day with half decent weather.
Anyway, the rock was extremely hard and robust. It looks as if the site has changed little since it was first mapped due to lack of recent rockfalls. My pals were more scared of the spiders! LOL
I think more attention should be paid to this area. From a map the burn appears as just that 'a burn'. However the Avon Gorge is on a big scale, and it seems its tributary of the Meikle Burn follows a close second. It is very scenic. The area is very remote, and it does not appear as if the nearby housing estate in Earnock can access this gorge due to continous cliffs. The ground was completely undisturbed. No trodden footpaths, and the only litter was that dropped from earnock above like a few wheeliebins and gutters etc.. I don't think many people have been there in recent years at all. Who knows how long the seats have been there.
It makes sense though. The place is not readily accessed from the west, you have to travel over vast fields from the east and even then there is hardly any access from the east. It is miles of countryside to the south, and from the north it is a similar affair. The place is almost sealed from view to. A real gem! And the cave/cove tops off the visit. The cliffs are really impressive to.
I have seen the cars at the priory, I thought the same. They always find a way! The sophisticated mind of the rural ned! LOL...!
"Under an overhanging rock"? I hope you made the appropriate preparations, and had this suitably propped and supported before you ventured below, in order to keep the Elfin Safety brigade happy.
Reminds me of an overhanging outcrop in the cliff at the side of the broch in Torwood, near Larbert; kids have been making camps and lighting fires under it since I were lad- then a few years ago, someone neatly felled a tree, cut it to exactly the right length, and used it to "prop up" the furthest edge of the outcrop.
The overhang is not quite like that at the Meikle Burn. It rises on a curvature and is seamlessly connected to the adjacent cliffs. The site is quite stable. Those photos Apollo are hillarious.
There is an overhang at Calderwood Glen like that, its on the Dee of Calder (Calderwood Castle Site). However it cannot be described as a cave, or even a rocky cove/shelter. The cave at Meikle Burn however is a sharply angled hollow.
There are some almost tropical looking ferns in the Garrel Glen due probably to its sheltered micro climate.
To post photos here you need to have an account with a photo hosting site like Photobucket, Flickr or Picassa. Post it there and link from there to your post. Two open windaes reqd. 'course.
When in Photobucket (which I assume you are using since you posted links to it) 1. Select photo. Click on SHARE above the thumbnail of the photo. 2. A new window will open called SHARE THIS IMAGE - Click on IMG for bulletin boards & forums and copy that. 3. Sesco window - Click the LINK symbol on Sesco Message and paste the Photobucket code in to your post between the [url] HERE [/url] brackets.
Edit: I made a mistake you can just paste the IMG code straight into a post.
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Cave in Hamilton, Meikle Burn?
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