Sir Jay of CamerLot Traditional Geocache
Professor Xavier: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it. Please note that as this cache has now been archived by a reviewer or HQ staff it will NOT be unarchived.
Regards
Ed
Professor Xavier - Volunteer UK Reviewer
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The first in a series of caches dedicated to each of the CamerLot children (placed in no particular order). This location was selected for Jays he was baptised here and was born less than a quarter of a mile away on St Nicholas Avenue.
History
A church has stood on this site for well over 1300 years and, with Titchfield church, shared the pastoral care of the people of the Gosport peninsular until the 12th century, when Alverstoke church was built.
Accurate history is patchy, and it is not until the Manor of Rowner was granted by a grateful King Edward I to Sir William le Brun in 1277 that full records were kept; these survive in the Hampshire County Archives at Winchester with the family papers. Two Brune sons, Philip and Nicholas, were given the office of Rector between 1292 and 1306. Another, from a much later generation, became Rector in the nineteenth century. There is a list of Rectors on the slates in the old church.
The hamlet (of 1245 acres) was mentioned in the Domesday Book, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (where we can read that King Henry held court at Rowner in 1114 before boarding his ship at Portsmouth for France). When preparation work for the 1968 Extension was being carried out, leather burial shrouds, dating back to Roman times, were found, indicating that worship had been occurring here for some time before the Christian period.
The earliest surviving part of the ‘old’ church is the 12th century nave of what is now dedicated as the Lady Chapel (the monks’ priory church as well), which served as the tiny parish church until the 13th century. It was then that a narrow ‘lean-to’ aisle was added to the north. It is also possible that the chancel and sanctuary was added at that date; looking westward from the outside, there is a distinct arch shape high up, which could have been the place for the east window.
The northern section of the graveyard (the only one in Gosport still open for burials) lies where carp ponds once stood. A covered well exists on Manor House field on Rowner Lane, and is made safe by the tombstone to Henry Cunningham, the inventor of the Self-reefing Topsail, having been laid over it.
The extension you see today replaced the old one destroyed by fire on 19th May 1990, when a stray flare landed on the wooden roof. The rebuilt church was consecrated in November 1992, on the Feast of Christ the King, by Bishop Timothy Bavin. Rector Roy George was inducted in October 1990 in the old church, which miraculously survived the fire, with the majority of the congregation in an army marquee! Rector John Draper was inducted in October 1996 by Bishop Kenneth Stevenson.
The cache is about 10cm x 5cm, but there is only room inside for the logbook, so bring your own pen/pencil. This is not your usual cache container and is very well camouflaged, hence the difficulty level.
Please do not post spoiler photo's that show the container or it's location as this could ruin the find for other cachers. Please ensure you seal the log bag properly as the container is not watertight and the log is prone to get wet.
FTF - Cornell Finch - Congratulations
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Oruvaq n gerr, qba'g sbetrg gb ybt guvf bar