Church Micro 3636 Melton Mowbray Traditional Geocache
Church Micro 3636 Melton Mowbray
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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Part of the Church Micro series administered by Sadexploration, this is currently a 35 mm film pot.
Please bring your own pen/cil and replace accordingly.
St Mary's is situated in the middle of Melton Mowbray and can be seen frompretty much anywhere whilst visiting the historic market town. The Church has been described as 'Leicestershire's most sophisticated church' and features within, 'England's Thousand Best Churches'.
St Mary’s is the largest parish church in the Leicester Diocese, and is certainly the finest. St Mary’s is a grand cruciform church with transepts and a crossing tower. The tower of scrubbed limestone has dominated the town for centuries.
St. Mary's Church dates mainly from the 13th-15th centuries. The stonework in the lowest section of the tower, which has Norman windows, dates from 1170, although there were certainly one or more Anglo-Saxon churches on this site before the Norman one.
It is built on a plan more usual for cathedrals and the 100-foot tower dominates the town, and is a rare example of a parish church with aisled transepts (one of only five in the country) a feature usually found only in a cathedral.
The belfry contains ten bells. The earliest bell (No.6) is by John of York dating from the fourteenth century. Most of the rest have been recast. Until 1802 there were only six bells: then two more were added and in 1894 a further two made the total ten. In addition there is a small sanctus bell which dates from the seventeenth century.
The carillon, on which chimes are played two times a day (at 12 noon and 3pm), was restored in 1938.
Take the time to have a look inside and outside the Church, it is a real gem. The exterior is unusual in that the footpaths and gardens of adjacent buildings intermingle with the gravestones.
This is a busy area, you will have to choose your time well. I have given a specific hint for those who do not want to wander around urban locations.
You may also find the adjacent buildings interesting, Robert Hudson founded the "Maison Dieu" almshouses (opposite the Church in 1640), you can still see the inscription carved above the door. This building compliments the ironstone built "Anne of Cleves House" opposite.
This was built in 1384 and housed chantry priests until the Dissolution. It was then included in the estates of Anne of Cleves by Henry VIII, as a divorce settlement in the 16th century, although there is local debate about whether she ever stayed there or not. Anne of Cleves' house is clearly marked.
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See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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Srry sbe vg.