The photograph above shows what is known locally as "Murdoch`s Cave". It is reputed to be where a young William Murdoch "carried out experiments". The cave is situated immediately behind Bello Mill Lugar near Cumnock on the banks of the River Lugar where Murdoch was born in 1754. Murdoch is credited with the invention of using gas for lighting and a plaque exists at Bello Mill farm to commemorate this achievement.

In his mid twenties he is said to have walked from Ayrshire to Birmingham to seek employment at James Watt and Matthew Boulton`s famous Soho works.He gained employment there (one apocryphal story says that that the nervous Murdoch dropped his top hat whilst being interviewed by Boulton, on hearing the hat drop Boulton found on closer inspection that Murdoch`s hat had been made on a lathe!. It is said this prompted Boulton to offer Murdoch a job immediately) and went on to contribute significantly and can be said to have been the first in britain to construct and use a steam powered road going vehicle. This was in 1785 while he was in Redruth, Cornwall, sent there by the company to look after their steam engines that they supplied to the tin mining industry Gas lighting is what Murdoch is famous for though, and by 1795 he had managed to light his house in Redruth with this method.Seven years later his company used gas lighting outside their factory in Birmingham and by 1813 Westminster bridge was illuminated by the ingenuity of the Lugar man. The photograph below is of the commemorative plaque on the wall of Bello Mill.