The Cache

This is a fairly easy cache set in The Katharine Dock adjacent to the Tower of London.  You will be taken to a number of different areas of the dock where you will need to keep your eyes open to find various facts about the dock.  There are also a number of informative notices boards around that are worth reading. Hopefully this will be fun (and educational for kids and well as older cachers).

Some of the sections of this cache are near water. If you are doing this cache with small children, please keep a close eye on them.

The route is buggy, push chair and wheelchair friendly.

The final stage is a small real cache with space for small swaps, geocoins or TBs. Don’t leave anything outside of the cache and replace it exactly as you found it.

Step 1: N 51.30.414 W 00.04.438

Lets give you some history and background first of all – just in case you didn’t memorise the rest of the cache description!  Study the 30 “tomb stones” carefully and answer the follow question

1.       When did the St Katharine Docks open fully?  25 Oct 182A

Step 2: N 51.30.371 W 00.04.398

1.       Where do the Dolphin’s donations go?  (digit from the postcode, this is B)

2.       My watch stopped working when I was here in March. Fortunately I could still tell the time. How much did I need to adjust by?  C mins

Step 3: N 51.30.373 W 00.04.332

1.       What is the most low and high tide vary by?   1Dm

2.       When did the Dutch and the British become friends 168E (be careful – write what you see, don’t do the math)

Step 4: N 51.30.401 W 00.04.229

1.       When did the turtle arrive 199F

2.       ET called K6. What number did he dial 020 7680 085G?

3.       How much did Rhode’s handiwork cost £ H47

4.       How old is the hook 2J0 years?

Final stage

N 51 (E-C)(E-F) (H-G)BD

W 00 JH GCA

You may need to be a bit stealthy for this bit and be sensitive to both passers by and occupants of nearby buildings

Background

Today

A lot has changed since the dock has been rejuvenated.  This site http://exploringeastlondon.co.uk/Stkatharines/Stkatharines.htm gives some great information of Dock including some of the interesting things that you can find there, definitely worth a look to help make the most of a walk around here – and it might give you a clue or two regarding the cache.

There are a variety of places to eat and drink around the docks. The Dickens Inn is a possibility if you want something stronger to drink.  There is a Waitrose supermarket adjacent if you want to buy a few bits and bobs for lunch or a snack.

Who was St Katharine of Alexandria?

  It is the same unfortunate lady that the British Catherine wheel firework used on Guy Fawkes Night is named after. Find out more about St Katharine of Alexandria here http://www.st-catherine.org.uk/legend1.htm

History of The St Katharine Dock

From pre-Roman times, the area known as St Katharine Docks has been a centre of commerce and trading. But the real roots of today's complex of commercial and residential buildings can be traced back to the 10th century, when King Edgar (959-975) gave 13 acres of land on the site to 13 knights with the "right" to use the land for profit which provided the basis for trade in foreign goods which continued for a thousand years.

 In 1125, the descendants of this "Knighten Guild" donated the land, which included a small dock, to the Augustinian Priory of the Holy Trinity in nearby Aldgate.

The protection gained by Royal Patronage was assured a quarter of a century later when Queen Matilda gave her blessing to "The Royal Foundation of St Katharine" which included a hospice or hospital. From Saxon times many religious orders set these up as literally places of hospitality that provided food and shelter to the many travellers and pilgrims.

No plans of the original institution have survived, but it probably consisted of one building that served as church and hospital, with a screen dividing the travellers staying in the nave from the services in the chancel.

In 1273, Queen Eleanor reorganised St Katharine's as a charity which maintained a master, ten bedeswomen, and according to different reports, between six and 24 poor people plus three brethren to say mass for the soul of Henry III and his royal ancestors. More importantly, to safeguard the long term survival of the institution, Eleanor arranged that the patronage of St Katharine's should always be held by the Queen Consort, who would remain patron for the rest of her life.

The Middle Ages

Amongst the many benefactors, the most surprising of all was Henry VIII who, with his wife Catherine of Aragon, founded the Guild of St Barbara at the hospital. The new guild was governed by a master and three wardens, who later included Cardinal Wolsey, the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham, and the Earls of Shrewsbury and Northumberland.

Even in the midst of Henry's (in)famous "rape" of the monasteries he left St Katharine's untouched, possibly as a compliment to his new bride Anne Boleyn, but perhaps simply because the royal patronage bestowed by Queen Eleanor over 250 years before still held true.

Henry's sympathetic stance did not stop the ownership of the lands being transferred to the Crown in 1546, when a layman was appointed warden, probably as a reward for his services to the Crown. While St Katharine's charitable functions continued, most of the profits found their way into the hands of the institution's master.

Plague, Fire and Riot: Surviving Two Difficult Centuries

After Elizabeth I ascended to the throne in 1558, she appointed the layman Dr Thomas Wilson as master of St Katharine Docks. In doing so, she chose a man who would soon become very unpopular. He set about dissolving St Katharine's choir school, and selling the “rights” to the century-old annual fair to the City of London. A petition opposed his actions until Elizabeth issued a new charter, confirming most of the hospital's privileges and making the foundation responsible for helping the poor. The area around the hospital was thriving as busy wharves were built along the tidal inlet that had become known as St Katharine's Dock, the first time the now-familiar name had been used.

In 1665, England was struck by the Great Plague, or Black Death as it was also called: many people at St Katharine's suffered badly from it. Fortunately, however, the buildings escaped the attentions of the Great Fire the following year. Thereafter the hospital fell into disrepair, mainly as a result of a dispute in patronage between Queen Catherine, the wife of Charles II, and Queen Henrietta Maria, the widow of Charles I. Finally, in 1698, an enquiry on behalf of the Lord Chancellor addressed the problems and instructed the society to use its endowments for better purposes, resulting in a school for boys and girls on the site.

By the end of the 18th century, St Katharine's was at the centre of a settlement numbering around 3,000 people, with its own court and alms houses, in addition to the hospital and school. The area was a haven of tranquillity, in sharp contrast to Ratcliffe immediately to the east, which was notoriously frequented by sailors on shore leave, vagabonds, prostitutes and London's low life.

The St Katharine Docks Bill was passed in 1825; the foundation stone was laid in May 1827. The act stated that the sum of £1,352,752 - an enormous amount for the day - should be the new company's capital stock together with a further £500,000. Both sums were raised by selling shares and borrowing against the expected profits from the venture.

Records show over 11,000 people were displaced by the works. Public protests at the destruction of the ancient hospital and other buildings resulted in a huge compensation bill for the company.

Some £125,000 was paid to the hospital for its land and interests, plus £36,000 for new buildings, including a hospital, chapel and residences to be constructed near Gloucester Gate in Regent's Park. And with the principle of compensation established, the St Katharine Docks Company also paid to sweep away over a thousand filthy slums around the colourfully-named Dark Entry, Cat's Hole and Pillory Lane.

Thomas Telford: Building a Revolutionary Dock

The respected engineer Thomas Telford was commissioned to build the new docks. In fact, St Katharine Docks were to be the only major project in London for the Engineer who shaped so much of British transport before the railway.

At the time the project started, Telford was already 67 years old, a man of great experience but lacking the energy of his earlier years. For this reason, and because he had many other commitments elsewhere, Telford relied heavily on his on-site engineer, a young man called Thomas Rhodes, who had already proved his worth when constructing the Menai Bridge in Wales.

 St Katharine Docks' construction was one of the biggest tasks ever undertaken in the capital. And it took just two years to complete. Some 2,500 men were employed to move rubble and soil (including the remains from the churchyard) into barges which were then taken up-river by the contractor Thomas Cubitt. Ironically, this debris, which came from an institution devoted to helping the poor and needy, was used as foundation material for constructing the large houses in the wealthy and fashionable Belgravia area of central London.

 Telford had a revolutionary vision for his new project. Two connected basins, the East Dock and the West Dock, were a real innovation, creating a dock unlike any other in the world, which had an exceptionally long quayside for a comparatively small area of enclosed water.

 The docks were to be linked to the river through an entrance lock, 180 feet long and 45 feet wide, equipped with three pairs of gates. At the time the docks were designed, the lock could handle either one very large or two small ships. Two James Watt-designed 80 horse-power steam engines pumped water to maintain the water level in the docks four feet above the river's level.

Extracted from http://www.skdocks.co.uk/skd_history.html