Free parking behind the church at N51 09.202 E1 22.332. This cache is wheelchair friendly if the rear gate next to the car park is used as the access point.
St Margaret of Antioch, a Grade 1 listed building, is a 12th century building built over the foundations of an earlier Saxon church by the Priors of St Martins of Dover c.1150. Its of a similar design to the church in Creully in Normandy, and is built with Caen stone from that region along with local split flint. Very worn carved figures can be seen above the main door to the church. We're sure they originally depicted monks, but does anyone else think they now look like ancient aliens! It has always been a puzzle why such a small village should have such a large parish church. Folklore has it that the reason was because Benedictine monks from Dover Priory and Canterbury Cathedral used the village as a summer retreat.
Church of St Margaret's of Antioch
Along with most of the local coastline smuggling was rampant here in St Margaret's at Cliffe. It is told that the parish clerk stored the rope and pulleys needed to pull contraband up the nearby cliffs in the church tower.
During WW2 huge calibre 'Channel' guns duelled across the Channel on almost a daily basis. Positioned nearby were the famous 16 inch naval guns 'Winnie' and 'Pooh'. The church was a casualty of a direct hit from a shell fired from one of the large German guns positioned in Calais. The German shell had but one casualty on that day, it completely destroyed a memorial window to John Knott. Mr Knott had been a lighthouse keeper at the nearby Foreland Lighthouse. Of note, the Knott family are accredited with the longest period of continuous service in the history of manned lighthouses, with family members serving from 1730 till 1906.
A more recent addition to the church is a stained glass memorial window commemorating 3 men from the village who were lost in the 1987 Zeebrugge Disaster when the Herald of Free Enterprise ferry capsized.
The Cache
Go to the impressive covered stone arched entrance to the church (WAYPOINT) and you will find and equally impressive door. The number of screws holding the iron door handle and keyhole are what you need to find the cache, which is at:
N51 09. (Door / Door) (Door) (Key)
E001 22. (Key - 1) (Door - 1) (Key x3)
The cache is a micro pot hidden outside the church grounds.****BYOP****NO SIGN = NO FIND
BEWARE OF MUGGLES!
Covid-19: If you have no intention of signing the physical logbook in this geopot at this time, please visit when you are prepared to sign it. ALL physical logbooks MUST be signed for a claim to a find to be made.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
To view the church micro stats page, please click here
goes to Applepye & bluewhitereg