Doing some armchair research as I can't go exploring any more. My late father told me a long time ago that there was a limekiln on the north bank of the Forth at NS807952, and this is confirmed by a number of the older OS maps. There was a pier slightly downstream. Now they would need to have brought coal in by boat, nearest available source would be any of the Clackmannanshire mines via Alloa docks, no Manor Powis colliery in the 1800s. There appears to have been a road crossing the railway where the modern level crossing is. Economics would be very much against bringing in the limestone by boat or horse and cart, and there is no indication that the railway ever had a siding or unloading platform there.

Now when I was very young I lived in the area and when visiting either of the grandparents if I was bored I would wander along the footpath at the base of the Abbey Craig, behind the wall. All kids used to go that way, much more interesting and safer than being too close to the road. I remember noticing at least one feature which seemed a bit odd, and thinking about it now, I think it was the approach cutting to a mine entrance, just like those at Murrayshall (where one became uncovered a few years back). There would be quite a few tonnes of boulders covering the entrance.

I have just checked the geology and because the whin sill which forms the bulk of the Abbey Craig "transgresses" the carboniferous strata in several places, the limestone below the sill is not the same as the Murrayshall limestone, but a limestone nonetheless, and it ought to be exposed. I actually remember seeing a softish shale at the base of the whin behind Causwayhead park, and it is known that sandstone was quarried at the north west corner of the park to build the Wallace Monument. So we know that suitable carboniferous strata are there.

http://mapapps.bgs.ac.uk/geologyofbritain/home.html  confirms plenty of limestone.

The problem is that the area is no longer maintained. The council used to bring down any loose boulders annually in the interests of safety, so there was little fear of a rock fall. I do remember a huge boulder in the middle of the A907 road in about 1954. It was there for several days, till they used explosives to break it up. But around the time I left the area, 1973, the council gave up on maintenance and attempted to restrict access, so the footpath eventually became overgrown. Google Streetview shows what looks like a jungle, so it may be very difficult to get in there and have a good look for signs of mining.

However I think it is worth a look, if someone has nothing better to do. Just don't expect an open entrance, you would need some very heavy equipment to shift the boulders covering it. From memory, it is likely to be roughly opposite the level crossing.

Very interesting post

http://stat-acc-scot.edina.ac.uk/sas/sas.asp/?account=2&accountrec=007857&action=publicdisplay&county=Stirling&monospace=&naecache=15&navbar=&nohighlight=&pagesize=&parish=Logie&session-id=0d9cd8d6879e6c6876fab244f5730f04&transcript=&twoup=#pageimage  ]

In discussing the Parish of Logie's geology the parish minister Rev William Robertson when describing Abbey Craig states

The Greenstone does not compose the whole height of Abbey Craig from the plain on the west, it being only 250 feet thick, or nearly half of the whole height. The strata found under it is composed of the various coal strata before mentioned. Here some trials have been made for coal and limestone; the later of a course quality was found; also argillaceous ironstone, but no mineral of a workable value. It is, however, thought from the analogy of similar strata, that a workable limestone may be found in this quarter

Could your working be one of these trials?

From a mining perspective the parish account makes an interesting read particularly the description of the mineral springs, quarrying, the well known Ochils copper workings and in particular that the Abbey Craig became an important source of mill wheels (which had previously been supplied from France, but required a local source during the Napoleonic Wars)

Grumpytramp, thanks for that added information. I should have looked in the OSA, as I have when researching Craigend/Murrayshall/Cambusbarron and others in the aea, but for some reason I just forgot.

I have vague memories of a drainage ditch emerging from the pile of rocks where I suspect there is an adit. Next time I am in Scotland I will try to get some pictures. Best be in winter I think, so the jungle will be less dense. | think there may also be evidence of a gate in the wall, which would be necessary.

However the land rises by at least 20 feet between the river and the base of the Abbey Craig so it is possible that any adit entrance would have been south of the road, and maybe even railway, and will now be well obscured. But that lime kiln was very real.

The millstones came from the quarry which worked until the late 1930s, and maybe even the early 1950s. They were actually whinstone (quartz-dolerite) which was unusual but seemingly worked very well. They probably did not know about the health hazard, silicosis, in those days. I think that would be a problem as the stones presumably give off some fine dust in operation.

Thinking about millstones, have you ever been to Curbar Edge, NNE of Bakewell? There is a very good exposure of actual Millstone Grit and a number of abandoned and defective millstones, some not yet detached from the cliff, others just lying around. It must have been a major millstone quarry/factory.