Church Micro 1797 All Saints Denmead
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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A short multi cache in Denmead. You will need a pen to sign the log. Cache is a bit smaller than a 35mm canister but bigger than a nano!
A POLITE PLEA: Please use the suggested car park at the way pointed location below. Whilst the start co-ordinates above also has parking, it is not supposed to be for public use! Thank you very much.
Once parked head to the start location at the co-ordinates above.
A bit about All Saints Church in Denmead:
The church was built in 1880 to serve the new village of Denmead, which brought together five hamlets in the ancient Forest of Bere, all originally part of the parish of Hambledon.
All Saints' was built on half an acre of land donated by William Griffin Snr. of Yew Tree Farm, Southwick Road. The architects were Messrs S Fowler and CR Pink, and the contract was awarded to Walter Hensman Bros. of Horncastle, Lincolnshire at an estimated cost of £1539. The foundation stones in the east wall were laid on 1 June 1880 by Colonel Butler of Bury Lodge, Hambledon and Dr Thomas White, Vicar of Hambledon. 400 tons of flint, to be used in the construction, was donated by four local farmers. The church was consecrated on 22 November 1880 by the Lord Bishop of Winchester. The first Vicar was the Reverend FC Green, who served for fifty years in Denmead. The original building faces due east - west. Vestries were added in 1959, but were demolished in 1996 as part of a major extension project.
Denmead's population today is over 6000, and the original church was increasingly proving too small for modern needs. In August 1996 work started on an extension to designs by Ralph Ball RIBA, which rotates the principal focus to the north. The main contractor was Richardsons of Nyewood, Petersfield, who completed the project for £226,783. The foundation stone in the north wall was laid by the Bishop of Portsmouth on Saturday 2 November 1996, the day following All Saints' Day, and the extended Church was consecrated, also by the Bishop of Portsmouth, on Sunday 4 May 1997. The flints used on the west and north walls of the extension were salvaged from the north wall of the original church. Many of the tiles on the east elevation of the Extension were signed by parishioners.
The only object of any antiquity in the church is the font. It is from the 14th or 15th century, and was originally the font of St Peter & St Paul Hambledon, the mother church of All Saints'. During the restoration of Hambledon church in the 1870's it was removed to make way for a new font in memory of the Reverend Thomas Patteson. In 1880 the ancient font was rescued from Hambledon churchyard, cleaned and presented to All Saints' where it was used for the first christening on 8th May 1891.
Parish records show that in April 1907 it was agreed that a screen should be placed between the original Chancel and Nave. In 1910 a design by W Kitchen was adopted, and the screen was built. It has a memorial plaque to Ellen Cordery who is described as a 'most liberal benefactor', and to her mother Mary Ann Lashley. Installation of the oak reredos behind the original altar was agreed in 1911. In June 1917 it was decided that a crucifix should be placed on the Chancel screen.
Outside you will find the Foundation Stone is in the north wall. The text on the stone was written by Ramon Lull who lived from 1232 to 1316. He was a remarkable man. After a dissolute life as a courtier, he was converted and devoted his life to Christ. He wrote many books and traveled widely. He pressed the church of his day to be a missionary church. Our text is taken from his book The Tree of Love. It has been chosen because it says we have built the extension for the love of Christ (the Beloved); and that we intend to make him better known in Denmead and in his world; we intend to serve him by the way we live our lives; we intend to honour him in our worship; and above all we love him and wish all people so to do.
Ramon Lull came from Majorca. His great vision came to him in a cave on Mount Randa on that island. A small piece of stone from that cave has been inserted in the pointing at the top right-hand corner of the Foundation Stone. The stone also carries the Logo of a radiant cross which has been used on church publicity material since the launch of the Appeal for funds for the Extension on All Saints' Day 1993.
The Appeal remained open to finance a major upgrade and refurbishment to the adjacent Hall, and construction of a two-storey link building between Church and Hall to include an additional meeting room upstairs and storage, office and utility space downstairs. This was achieved in 2003 with the refurbished and extended Hall being formally opened by the Bishop of Portsmouth on the 31st January 2004, providing a wonderful new facility to serve the community.
This church has seen many of my families events.
Now for the cache
1. Find Col WRD Vernon-Harcourt. Note down the associated dates as ABCD-EFGH
2. Find Ms Carpenter. How many letter in her first name? Note down as J
3. Find Harold Frederick Nobes. Note down the associated dates as KLMN-OPQR
The cache is located at:
N50.54.UVW
W001.03.XYZ
where:
U=N
V=J
W=M+R
X=H
Y=F-N
Z=A+E+O
The cache is a short walk away, but not accessible directly from the grounds you currently stand in. Please do not drive!
Care needed when retrieving and replacing cache, thank you.
If anybody would like to expand to 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)
Oruvaq pbapergr, nccebk 15 cnprf FJ sebz pnyphyngrq pbbeqf