Anyone know Campsie/Lennoxtown?

[Doorstop]

I'm afraid I've no idea what the origins of the hole are .. but I'm sure there's someone here who will look into it for you.

*gets coat*

[bcuk10]

[oldphilosophy]

It would be great

[Lucky Poet]

Don't take this as gospel, but it seems very unlikely that it's a lime kiln. An admittedly very brief bit of research (*cough Wiki cough*) suggests the various limekiln designs through the ages were all built above ground.

[oldphilosophy]

I'll have a look at them thanks. What about a well then? the only thing is that its not filled with water.

[Icecube]

here are a couple of closer shots






Any idea's?

Its too wide to have been a well and and its well lined with stone to reinforce it.
OP can you tie the position of this hole up with a Bing or google earth image? At first glance it could be a filled in shaft - one that has been filled in with earth and some stones and it could be that the spoil has subsided into the shaft. I've come across this at another place. More research would be required to substantiate this of course.
There is probably somebody in Lennoxtown who'll know ....

[Icecube]

A look at the 1859 first Edition O.S. 25"/mile [online @ NSL maps - Stirling Sheet XXVIII.5 (Campsie) ] shows six coal pits to the east of the bend in the Crow Road so there are plenty of possibles if it is a filled in pit shaft.


© The Trustees of the National Library of Scotland

[oldphilosophy]

Thanks Icecube, very exciting and thanks for taking the time to reply

I'm not sure how to copy the map the way you did but it gives me the option to share a link so here goes. Would a mine have stone flooring too? They go all the way down from sides and cover all of the floor area I saw. There was a lot of grass and other plants though. The hole is dead centre and looks bigger from this view than it did from the ground

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v ... &encType=1

this is a closer view
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v ... &encType=1

and further away
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?v ... &encType=1

You can see the limestone spoil mounds close by and the golf course borders.

[Icecube]

Bingo.

1859


150 years later -'ish



Same hole.

Interested to hear it is a stone 'floor' - it must have been capped with local stone off the hill, these must have subsided as the spoil below them did and the fact that you don't mention any water in the hole suggests that there is a very thick layer of stones above the spoil which is draining rain water away.

The other one to the N.E. is on both images too.

[purplepantman]

Sorted!

[oldphilosophy]

Fantasic Icecube, thats a million

I thought the stonework was too perfect to have caved in, is that what you mean? That a wall would be built around a mound of spoil poured down the mine shaft?

This site is great and I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone who helped discuss the mystery but especially the person who solved it.

I'll need to think of another mystery now and I hope I can even help solve a few.

oh, and there was no water.

[oldphilosophy]

Or was the wall reinforcing the shaft itself? Sorry for being a bit slow on the uptake.

[Icecube]

The whole shaft - it might not have been very deep if it was a Bell or stair pit - would have been lined with cut stones to prevent its collapse (plenty of stones lying about the hillside up there for that I'd expect).

As for the subsidence I mentioned I'm having second thoughts on the stone 'floor' being below the surrounding ground level and now think it unlikely that the exposed shaft lining would not have collapsed in tandem with subsidence because the lining looks quite solid in the photos(that could have a blonde moment on my part)
Maybe the pit was closed up and this floor was deliberately left below the level of the ground for some reeason, maybe there was a roof over it? used for storage by somebody, farmer maybe?

[gwendle]

Our house think it was to do with the lime industry. There was old coal mines up there but it wasn't good quality and was subsequently used to burn the limestone.

Factoid! Campsie lime was used in the building of Glasgow Cathedral.

[oldphilosophy]

Very interesting fact indeed however its a high coincidence that the shaft appears on the old map?

Icecube, are you changing your mind about it being a shaft?