File:Remains of lime-kiln - geograph.org.uk - 1622069.jpg

English: Remains of lime-kiln. This is the ninth of ten lime-kiln sites that are located along a short section of the Murroch Burn. For another image of this site, and for an index to pictures of all ten sites, see 1622071

Sites 1 to 7 are located within woodland, but sites 8 to 10 (those furthest upstream) are out in the open, each one located at the foot of a long ridge enclosed within a bend of the Murroch Burn (see https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1623207 for a view of some of those ridges). Even today, these long ridges make access to the ruins slightly easier, although they are fairly narrow, and the descents steep (they are therefore not to be undertaken lightly when the ground is wet); nevertheless, it is still easier to get from site to site by climbing one ridge and descending another than it is to attempt to walk along the banks of the Murroch Burn.

All that now remains of this kiln (site 9) is a circular pit with an internal diameter of 3.1 metres, mostly covered by grass, although some flat slabs from the stone walls are visible on the outer edge of the pit nearest the burn (by way of contrast, see site 7 – https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1622205 – for a very well-preserved wall, giving some indication of how these lime-kilns might once have looked).

The steep-sided valley of the burn was filled with mist when this picture was taken; this accounts for the unusual lighting (the camera angle was also chosen to conceal the unsightly remains of a large abandoned tent, hidden in this photo by the far wall of the pit). The Murroch Burn is visible in the left-hand side of the image; it approaches and then winds around the large mound that is visible in the background.