Church Micro 4355…West Malling - St Marys Abbey Multi-cache

This cache has been archived.

fellwalker74: I think this church micro has now run its course. Time to go.

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Hidden : 10/8/2013
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is part of an extension to Sadexploration’s far-reaching Church Micro series.

St Mary’s Abbey
(The Abbey Church & Norman Tower)



The manor of West Malling was given by King Edmund to Burhic, Bishop of Rochester in 946. The land was lost to the church in the Danish Wars but was restored to the diocese in 1076. About 1090 Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester and monk of Bec Abbey in Normandy, chose Malling as the site of his foundation for a community of Benedictine nuns, one of the first post-Conquest monasteries for women. Just before his death in 1108, Gundulf appointed the French nun Avicia as the first abbess.

The Abbey prospered and West Malling became a flourishing market town. In the four-and-a-half centuries of Benedictine life at the Abbey, major events included a fire in 1190 which destroyed much of the Abbey and town, the Black Death in 1349 which reduced the community to four nuns and four novices, and the surrender of Malling to the Crown on 28 October 1538, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. After its dissolution by Henry VIII it passed into secular ownership.

The buildings fell into ruin until the mid-1700s when Frazer Honeywood, a London banker, built a fine neo-gothic mansion and repaired the remaining medieval fabric. In 1892 the property was purchased by Charlotte Boyd whose life’s work it was to create a Trust to restore church property to its original use. Since 1916 the Anglican Benedictine community of nuns has resided in this historic place of prayer.

Little of the original building is now standing; the tower is Norman up to the first two stories and Early English above. Attached to the tower are some remnants of the church, one of the transepts and a wall of the nave; the refectory is also standing. The cloisters were re-erected in the fourteenth century. There is also a Grade II* listed building, the Abbey Church (built in 1966), which is used by the community.

Unfortunately the Abbey grounds are only very occasionally opened to the general public and so, on your visit, you will probably only be able to glimpse some of the buildings over the boundary walls.

To find the cache you will need to answer questions at two locations.

Entrance: N51 17.652 E000 24.657
This will bring you to the main entrance of St Mary’s Abbey where you will see the gatehouse.
A = Number of windows on the front wall of the gatehouse that directly faces the entrance gateway.

Cascade: N51 17.630 E000 24.746
Here you will see the Malling Abbey Cascade. Above it is a stone plaque bearing initials at the top and, below, a date represented by Roman numerals.
B = Number of letters in the initials.
C = Number of letters in the date.

You are looking for a film pot inside a 60ml container at the following co-ordinates:

N51 17. A (A+C) C E000 24. (A+C) (C-B) (A+C)

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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.

See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Orgjrra gur gjb pbeare cbfgf.

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)


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