GC3FZQY Church Micro 2664…Slaughterford Saunter 01 (Traditional Cache) in Southern England, United Kingdom created by BlackAndTabbyFamily

This cache has been archived.

BlackAndTabbyFamily: Visited today and discovered the cache had indeed completely disappeared. The foliage hiding the cache has been cut back making it impossible to place a cache out of sight here, so we are sadly archiving this one..........perhaps until the foliage grows back!

GC3FZQY ▼

A cache by BlackAndTabbyFamily Message this owner

Hidden : 5/6/2012

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

A series of six caches that will take you on a 1.5 mile walk out and back to the village of Slaughterford. Most of the terrain is on public footpaths and bridleways which can get very muddy in places. Be aware that there may be cattle about in some fields. For a longer walk you could link this in with Big Red Cat's Slaughterford Stroll series.

Church of St.Nicholas, Slaughterford

This cache is a magnetic micro. You don't need to enter the churchyard to find it! The hint makes it very obvious where to look.

Slaughterford is a small village with a busy past, with some interesting industrial history as well. The walk takes you from the Church of St.Nicholas, along the By Brook valley and then back into the village and finally up to a good viewpoint for the Final.

The name Slaughterford is thought to come from the old English name for sloe thorn/bush and ford. Others suggest it may have meant ‘Ford of Slates’, from the limestone strata where tiles or slates were made.

An old Roman settlement was situated on the site of Slaughterford, and it is reported to be the scene of King Alfred’s victory over the Danes after their defeat at the Battle of Ethandun (possibly at the ford).

The Church of St.Nicholas has a small unbuttressed west tower with Somerset tracery in the bell-openings and a three sided stair turret rising to the bell stage. The walls are of ashlar with stone tiled roofs and coped gables with saddlestones. G. Forder of Winchester built the nave, chancel and south porch in 1823. The rest of the church was virtually all restored in 1883 and all the windows have Perpendicular style tracery from this date with hoodmoulds over them. The interior is plain with plastered walls and roof, a chamfered chancel arch and 19th century fittings.

During the Civil War the church was partially destroyed by Oliver Cromwell's troops on their way to Bristol to embark for Ireland. They used it for artillery practice!

For 200 years after the destruction the parishioners of Slaughterford had to walk to Biddestone to worship in the church there. An inscription dated 1823 records the re-building, mainly using funds raised, locally after two centuries of disuse. The church remains open for services and is approached through a field from the road.

The population of Slaughterford was 132 in 1871. In 1880 the village contained two farmhouses and thirty cottages. By 1915 there were two farmhouses and twenty cottages in Slaughterford with a population of 81. The village had two shopkeepers, Little and Sons Brewery and the Dowding Paper Manufacturers. The old brewery lies just across the road from the church. By 1956 the brewery had become a private house. The brewery outbuildings surrounding it also include a prominent industrial chimney which can still be seen.

There was a dame’s school in Slaughterford in the nineteenth century and Warburton described it as: ‘there is a small dame’s school in this village, attended perhaps by 10 children, but the elder boys and some girls attend the national school at Castle Coombe’. Later in the nineteenth century most children attended the school in Biddestone.

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

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Yrsg tngr cbfg nf lbh snpr gur puhepu - va oruvaq gur hccre fcevat

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Church Micro 2664…Slaughterford Saunter 01 Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

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