The Battle of Linlithgow Bridge Traditional Geocache
The Battle of Linlithgow Bridge
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A cache to mark the site of the Battle of Linlithgow Bridge in 1526. Hidden just away from the road in this quiet residential area, it's hard to imagine the bloodshed that once occurred here. Generally easy terrain but final cache approach can be muddy and overgrown, so take care.
Hidden close to Linlithgow Leisure Centre, and surrounded by houses and greenery, you'd never think that a decisive battle in Scotland's history was fought here. Relatively ignored until recently, a memorial cairn and some interesting information boards have been erected near the cache site, so do go and have a look.
The battle of Linlithgow Bridge was a product of the power vacuum created by the death of James IV at Flodden in 1513. His young son, King James V, was kept a virtual prisoner by his self-appointed guardian, Archibald Douglas. Meanwhile the King’s mother, the Dowager Queen Margaret, made a number of attempts to release him. The most dramatic of these resulted in the battle of Linlithgow Bridge on September 4th 1526.
The Queen’s force of over 10,000 men, led by the Earl of Lennox, marched on Edinburgh. The advance was stalled at Linlithgow Bridge by a force of around 2500 men, led by the Earl of Arran. In the ensuing action the larger force, having crossed the River Avon not by the bridge but somewhere near Manuel Convent, got jammed in a bottleneck between the river, marshy ground and the high ground upon which Arran’s men were arrayed. The arrival of the pro-Douglas reinforcements from Edinburgh sealed the fate of Lennox’s army and upwards of 3000 men died in the ensuing slaughter. Lennox himself was captured and murdered by James Hamilton of Finnart.
The cache is hidden in a field not far from the memorial cairn on the corner of Mains Road. This is immediately adjacent to the Leisure Centre, which provides the nearest parking. The container is a small clipbox containing log book and a few little toys.
Terrain is flat and easy in the most part but the final approach involves crossing an overgrown area and can be muddy. Watch out for barbed wire close to the cache site.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ol srapr cbfg, haqre n fgbar.