11/2/16 - Listing updated to remove the premium member only requirement, update the page a little and put the new Church Micro wording at the bottom. Solve method, calculation and final location remain the same.
© Copyright Dave Pickersgill and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
Romans: St Andrew’s first appears in written records in AD 951 as a church on top of the hill above the river Fleet. However, when the crypt was excavated in AD 2002 Roman pottery was discovered, which indicates that the site has been in use for a much longer period.
13th Century: The name of the site changed during the Early Middle Ages, from St Andrew Holburnestrate to St Andrew de Holeburn. There is also a medieval spring in the crypt, which emanates from the river Fleet (though it is not generally open to the public).
In 1348 a local armourer called John Thavie “left a considerable Estate towards the support of the fabric forever”. It is his legacy, preserved during the Reformation, invested carefully through the centuries, that provides for the upkeep of the church today.
The wooden church was replaced by a medieval stone one in the 15th Century, of which only the tower now remains. From outside the tower looks like it was built by Wren, but inside you can see the medieval masonry.
Wren and Beyond: In 1666 the great fire ravaged London, but the medieval church of St Andrew’s was only saved at the last minute by a change in the wind direction.
However, as it was already in a bad state of repair, Christopher Wren rebuilt the church anyway.
He rebuilt from the foundations, making the crypt that still exists beneath the church today, and clad the tower in marble. It is his largest parish church.
The church is the resting place of the body of Thomas Coram, who founded the Foundlings’ Hospital in 1741, now called the Coram Family (www.coram.org). The first hospital was set up in a house in nearby Hatton Garden.
The organ casing at the west end is also from the Foundlings’ Hospital Chapel, along with the pulpit and the font. These were previously at the hospital's large premises in Bloomsbury, where the composer George Fredrick Handel would have played for his fundraising concerts. The Coram Family still owns a copy of his most famous work ‘The Messiah’.
The church was also the founding place of the Royal Free Hospital. On the church steps in 1827 William Marsden found a dying woman. He was inspired to set up a hospital in Greville Street for the poor and destitute, later it moved to Gray’s Inn Road. The hospital is now based in Hampstead.
The Cache: Above the Main entrance a blue-clad lady is offering you a date. Work out what she means: abcd
the cache can be found at: N51 31.(b-d)(d-b)(c-b) W0 06.((c-d)*a)c((c-b)+a)
I consider this cache as being wheelchair accessible both at the clue point and the final hide and the short journey between. When replacing the cache, please tuck it a fair way back behind the thing it is stuck to. This will make it less visible to passers-by.
Thanks to the church authorities for the interest in helping with the placing of the cache within the church area but on reflection, as the the grounds are locked at 1700 each day we decided to place it away from the church to enable 24-hour access to the cache.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.co.uk.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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