The parish church of St. Batholomew stands in the middle of the village at the south-east angle of the crossroads. It consists of a chancel flanked by a chapel on the north and another, now used as an organ chamber, on the south, a nave with north and south aisles, a north porch, a west tower, and a vestry north of the tower. It is built of local sandstone blocks and roofed with tile, the upper part of the tower and it's small broach spire being shingled. The nave and aisles were originally of the late 12th century, the chancel and south chapel of the 13th and the north chapel seems to have been added in the 14th. In the 19th century the nave and aisles were extended westwards. The exterior walls of the chapel and aisles were rebuilt, the porch moved, the tower and vestry added, and practically every stone of the ancient work scrapped or retooled. In fact there may have been a church in Rogate in Anglo-Saxon times and there must have been a church in existence in 1100AD.
The oldest visible portion of the present building is in the round arch at the east end of the north arcade in the nave (the smallest of the three) which was built in about 11500. The arches in the nave arcades (with exception of the two western ones, which were added in 1874) date from the 13th century, in fact there is work to be seen from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries in the chancel.
Until 1874 the timbre tower, which is dated from about 1330, stood between what is now the two central arches of the nave arcades. In the year 1874 the church, which had by now become dilapidated and dangerous, was extensively rebuilt and extended westwards. During this work the timber tower was dismantled, piece by piece and rebuilt in it's present position with new stone blocks or casings used at it's base. If you were to look at the massive timbers at the foot of the tower, you would notice they are all different lengths, showing the degree of decay that must have existed in original structure. The tower was made of Wealden oak and is considered to be an outstanding piece of architectural heritage of not only the village, but the whole area.
At the given coordinates, you'll find a great place to park at the village hall. It's also the place where you can see the first clue for the cache. Look towards the village hall, above the steps you'll see three large white words in a white box. How many letters in the last work? Equals A
Now head to N 51° 00.485 W 000° 51.029 and you'll find a black metal Rogate sign on the bank, between the church gates and the main road. How many deer are on the sign = B.
Now go to N 51° 00.474 W 000° 50.996. You'll find some a few remembrance plaques. Look for my Uncle Les Petter's plaque. What year did he die? 20CD. You also have to look for my Grandad's plaque, what was his first name? Number of letters = E. What year was he born? FGHJ.
Now head to N51 00.AD(B+H) W000 5(F+C).F(G-J-H)E to find the cache.
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
To view the church micro stats page, please click here