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Cairns Hill [Overview]

Dunsyre, Lanarkshire.

Generic. The name suggests possible multiple caves near Dunsyre, Cairns Hill and Garval Syke but closer reading hints that this may be a reference to a single cave although there is the possibility of 'limestone' in deeper gullies.

"The wild glens, recesses, and cave around the Cairn Hills and the Garval Syke, as around Dunsyre, were sheltering places for the persecuted Presbyterians in the Covenant times ..." (Grant 1927).

"There is a very large cave on the hill Craigengar, on the north- eastern boundary of this parish, which is said to have been a chief rendezvous of the gipsies or tinkers in this part of the country"

"In the channels of some of the streams which run down from the high ground are beds of what is denominated Coston limestone. This is apparently a mixture of sand and lime, which has been subjected to heat, and is extremely hard." (NSA).

Alternative Names: Cairns Hill (Caves of)

Notes: Coordinates given are for Dunsyre (where there is no known cave) but this may be a reference to the cave on Craigengar Hill (NT 09262 55003 ) mentioned by the New Statistical Account.

Garval Syke (NT 06955 53862)

No Cairns Hill in the area but Grant's reference suggests this should be Cairn Hills (possibly East Cairn Hill & West Cairn Hill NT 12173 59556 and NT 10687 58423?).