Ardeer Rec Cave?

[Penny Tray]

I was looking for something else today and stumbled across - "The caves of Scotland: a bibliography" - where I was surprised to find the following entry:

ARDEER RECREATION CLUB, STEVENSTON

Located behind Recreation Park off Quarry Road. This scheduled monument is owned by Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) who took over the Nobel dynamite works at Ardeer, and it consists of a subterranean passage and a cave.

Is this suggesting that there was a subterranean passage and cave under the Ardeer Recreation Club or nearby?

[wellparkno9]

Hi Pt, is it not a reference to the underground passage that comes out some where in Portland Place.Years ago when I was working for Nixon of Saltcoats I was sent to pull through a grappling hook type thing .It was attached to a wire rope and we pulled it with a digger.We were working just opposite Steel's garage.I think the under ground tunnel was called ,The Gut or The Got, Sam.

[Penny Tray]

Sam,

You have an amazing knowledge of the three 'Towns' Sam. Having had a look at a street map, it would have to be a fairly significant passage to have its origins around the Rec Club and extend as far as Portland Place?

[John Donnelly]

I remember my father talking about what I thought sounded like the groat. I thought he said it ran from the quarry under the railway to the sea. He said it was the reason the quarry flooded because the groat got blocked.

This is all very hazy. I think I was only seven or eight at the time.

JD.

[frank quinn]

I can vaguely remember my dad said they used to under
Stinson beach as there was a mine there, which later collapsed.
Perhaps that was one of the "tales" around Stinson as was the
pirates "gold".
Any clues anyone??------------------

[frank quinn]

just to save your brains I forgot"they used to mine under the sea
out from Stinson shore"

[little plum]

While looking for information on another topic ( Stevenston canal) I found a map showing the course of the canal, no date. The course of the canal is quite clear until it reaches Portland Place, it disappears from the map, then reappears in what is now Canal Crescent and then down to Ardeer Cottage where there was a sluice. I'm just wondering if there was a lock system in place to take the barges underground and this is what is remembered as a cave.?

[little plum]

I contacted " Ask Scotland" with regards to a section of the " Map of Old County of Ayrshire". When I zoomed in on this there was a waterway in the quarry area identified as " Master Goat", J.D. remembered something like "groat", which is close. They sent a reply along with a copy of the local canal system which I posted on a separate topic. I was informed that it was " Master Gott" , Sam was also close with his suggestion of Gut or Got. It was a drain to disperse water from the quarry area and further afield.

[sweet caroline]

http://maps.nls.uk/joins/view/?rsid=744 ... desc=North" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; West section

1779 map of the area

Ellen

[Fantasia]

Hi - I remember that there was a cave discovered behind the Ardeer Rec Club with a body inside and at the time it was said to be an Iron Age or Bronze Age burial. They had been doing some altrations to the grounds whenthey discovered it and I think it must have been between 1970's.

As for the Goat - my mother was raised in Moorpark East - she talked about a burn that they called The Goat in that area.

[ardrossanrentboy]

on oldmapsonline.org you'll find the 1856 map for Stevenston and if you zoom into Ardeer House grounds you will see a small section marked ' cove ' just a few yards to the east side. Further east, beyond the site of the Pipersheugh hamlet and on Dubbs Road is a marking for the site of finding a ' stone coffin and urn ' (ancient).

[5eulbdog7]

Hi - I remember that there was a cave discovered behind the Ardeer Rec Club with a body inside and at the time it was said to be an Iron Age or Bronze Age burial. They had been doing some altrations to the grounds whenthey discovered it and I think it must have been between 1970's.

As for the Goat - my mother was raised in Moorpark East - she talked about a burn that they called The Goat in that area.

Hi Fantasia, yes there is a cave there and its covered over with rubble I expect to stop the local youth from using it as a drinking den. I believe it contained bones and anchors and I also think its mentioned in Jimmie Clement's book the Kernel of Cunninghame. The master got was a drainage ditch built by Patrick Warner , part of it was used for the canal to Ardrossan which ran parallel to Moorpark East where it met the Stevenston burn which was a feeder. The canal was no longer commercially used after 1830(Roger Griffith). The drainage system branched off underground and went across to Portland Place and went under what became Steele's garage crossed the road and headed through the grounds of Ardeer Cottage and enters the burn about twenty feet from the bridge in George street. Robert Steele owned the land next to his garage where part of the Gott was exposed and he filled it in claiming it was causing vermin. The quarry flooded and it took a court order to get it unblocked and the gott was cleared and piped. Incidently when the quarry was filled in and drained a pumping house was built which has three pumps and a new pipeline was made which runs parallel to Moorpark East and discharges into the Stevenston burn behind where the old police station stood. The water from two of the pumps go into this new system. The third pump discharges into the old master gott.Part of the drainage system from Moorpark East to Portland Place was uncovered at the time the drainage works were carried out and it is a narrow passageway cut into the rock with individual sandstone blocks for a roof. That stretch is a piece of industrial archaeology a fine tribute to the craftsmen of that time.