The cache is a regular sized box covered with black material and contains some goodies for swaps and a small FTF prize of a ready to go cache.
Dartrey Estate
The name Dartrey once referred to a tribe of people in this area. The Dartrey Forest is a walled estate now owned by Coillte Teoranta (the National Forestry Agency. It contains a wonderful collection of fine period oak trees, some of the largest in Ireland. The forest supports a rich bio-diversity of insects, moths, bats, buzzards, jays, herons,ravens, red squirrel, sitka & fallow deer.
The Dartrey estate,of over 1,000 acres, once known as Dawson's Grove, was established by the Dawson family in the 17th century.The Dawsons also gave their name to streets in Dublin and nearby Monaghan town.The river Dromore is the south boundary of the estate. It is bounded on its north and west side by five miles of the Cootehill-Rockcorry road (R188); For some of this distance the boundary consists of a ‘famine wall’ built in 1846.
Dartrey Castle
Dartrey Castle was built in 1846 and designed by William Burn as a large Elizabethan Revivial mansion to replace an earlier house on the site. Built for Richard Dawson 3rd Lord Cremorne and later 1st Earl Dartry, it had very long facades with legions of mullioned windows, oriel windows, tudor chimneys and curvilinear gables relieved by square turrets with cupolas. On the garden front was a two level terrace facing onto Lough Dromore.
Rev. Burrows described Thomas Dawson (1725-1813) who owned Dartrey at the time of his stay as “judicious and benevolent towards his neighbours, his dependents, his servants and to the poor”. They were paternalistic times when the Dawson family’s lakeside mansion was the centre of the Cootehill community and almost open-house for those who needed to raise or settle local issues. At the same time large numbers of people were needed to work on the estate which became, in every sense, an important community facility attracting visitors from far away.
After nearly three centuries the fortunes of the Dawsons of Dartrey waned, their male heirs died out and the contents of their great Gothic-style mansion were auctioned in 1937. The house was demolished in the 1950s – after remaining empty for many years, the house was lent by the last Earl to the RSPCA for a ball after which the County Council demanded rates for the house. All that remains of the estate are various gatehouses, the ruined Mausoleum and a fine stable block.
Dartery Woods
The Dawsons had settled on this glorious piece of Irish lakeland countryside with its pattern of fish-filled waters, islands and drumlins covered with fine oaks, beech, sycamore, ash, silver birch and other, mainly broadleaf, woods.
In time they developed a network of paths, here and there bordered by banks of rhododendrons and other shrubs, giving access to most parts of the estate for walkers, fishermen, horse-riders, and there was even passage for horse-drawn carriages for a privileged few. All came to enjoy the ‘delicious woods’ and the breath-taking views of lakes and islands (some of the small islands are ancient ‘crannogs’ )
After the family fell on hard times and the house was demolished, the bulk of the 1000 acre estate was sold to Coillte. There are many trails the walker can follow around this estate: Dartrey Heritage trail, Black Island Circle, Dartrey Oaks Trail, Dromore River Trail & Dromlona Lough Trail – (see the map)
The various caches you must visit to gather the information for this bonus cache will lead you to some of these trails. The Bonus cache itself is located in the area of The Dartrey Oaks Trail. This trail winds through some of the oldest trees in the forest, a grove of 200-year-old oak and beech trees. Walking through gives the feeling of being in a natural cathedral, with tall pillars of trees stretching towards the sky on each side.
There are a total of approx 440 oak trees growing in the 13 acre wood, situated on the shores of the Inner Lough, directly opposite the site of the former Dartrey Castle. It is estimated that the trees were planted in 1820. The beech trees are much younger and were planted in 1949. Coillte has also planted vacant areas of the forest.
Some years ago proposals by Coillte to cut a number of the oak trees met with strong resistance from a number of local people who claim that any such action would devastate a wildlife habitat for herons and deer, and even more importantly, an area of significant beauty: the last mature woodland remaining intact in the Dartrey Estate.
The cache : To find the bonus cache you must visit the other 4 Dartrey caches and gather the following information.
Dartrey - Black Island cache -GC2D081
Visit the structure and make a note of the following:
How many round windows are there? Answer = A
How may pillars flank the entrance? Answer = B
How many windows on the ground floor? Answer = C
Dartrey - St. Johns Church -GC2D6QG
At the given co-ords - look around at the graves, you won't have to go far:
There are 2 ranked officers buried near-by - taking the ranks as Britsh Army Ranks - what year was the lower ranked officer born? It seems one of the headstones has been removed - hopefully temporarily - but the officer you seek is still there - Answer = DEFG
What age was Sandy when he died? Answer = HI
Dartrey - Dawson Monument GC2H1R3
Visit the structure and make a note of the following:
How many birds are on one coat of arms on the monument?
Answer = J
On the seventh line of text on the monument, there's a number -
Answer = K
Dartrey - The Stables cache -GC2JD1F
At the gates to the stables:
How many upstairs windows can you see as you stand in front of the stables? Answer = LM
The cache can be found at:
N54 0 (B+L-D) . (I+A) (C-(K+F)) (A+J)
W07 0 (F+A). (E-M) (H/A) (G+F)
Good Luck and Enjoy
Congrats to Medic1434 & Freakycat on FTF - also, I was delighted to find their FTF prize (a ready to go cache container) at GC2QCDK today - nice to see it put to good use so quickly
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.