Church Micro 1285... St Mary Magdalene, Widley Traditional Geocache
Church Micro 1285... St Mary Magdalene, Widley
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The Church of St Mary Magdalene, Widley is situated in the original and now deserted medieval site of the village of Widley. The village consisted of a church, a manor house and quite a number of small cottages. All that remains of the village is the graveyard of the church, the rest of the village now being farm or woodland. The church was first mentioned in 1154 AD, although it is understood to have been a place of worship since the 900s. The original church was extended in 1709, 1813 and 1824. Unfortunately the later extensions not only removed most of the oldest part of the structure and its architectural features, but also important structural elements of it, which resulted in its partial collapse in 1847. The church was partially demolished in 1849, and a new church built from the rubble which opened in 1850. The second churches life was short however. The building of new churches in the area, and the land taken from the parish to create the new parishes of Waterlooville, Purbrook, Portsdown and Cosham left Widley with very few parishioners. It has also been stated that the old Widley Village was forcibly moved east to its present location during the 1860s so as to "deny the enemy any cover" during the construction of the Palmerston Forts. After 1907, the church was locked up. It suffered much vandalism after 1945 which resulted in the roof being removed in 1950. In January 1953 the church was bulldozed and the graveyard cleared. The area remained neglected until 1976 when local history enthusiasts tided the site and recorded some of the remaining gravestones. Once more the site was neglected until 1989 since when endeavours have been made to keep it rubbish and weed free. The original foundations have been exposed and marked by a dry rubble wall. For more information please check out the website link at the top of this cache page.
------------------------------------- NB No longer just for Premium Members as of 10-7-11 If anybody would like to expand this series please do, I would just ask that you could let sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication ----------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ng onfr bs jnyy - ebnq fvqr - ol fvtaobneq