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Church Micro 6793 Folkestone St.Mary&St.Eanswythe Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

Long Man: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache, I'm archiving it.

Andy
Long Man
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Hidden : 1/3/2015
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   other (other)

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Geocache Description:

A micro sized container hidden just outside of the church boundary.

CONGRATULATIONS TO KACIMAY FOR FTF!!!

 

You are searching for a small micro sized container hidden just outside the beautiful church of St Mary's & St Eanswythe in Folkestone.

 

This area is very highly popular with muggles, so extreme stealth will be required at all times.

 

St Eanswythe was an Anglo-Saxon Saint who first established the Christian Church in Folkestone, and who's name is given to the parish church.  Born around 614, Eanswythe was a Saxon princess, her parents being King Eadbald of Kent and Emma, daughter of the King of the Franks.  Emma was a Christian, but her husband appears to have mixed pagan and christian beliefs.  Eanswythes grandparents were King Ethelbert of Kent and Queen Bertha, who both welcomed St Augustine when he arrived in Kent in 597AD.

 

Around 630AD Eadbald built a chapel for Eanswythe in this castle, located somewhere in The Bayle, near the area of the present church.  The chapel was dedicated to St Peter & St Paul.  Here she settled with a community of nuns as Abbess and Founder of the first religious community for women in England.  The date of her death is given as 640AD.  The monastery unfortunately did not survive her, possibly sacked by marauders or victim of costal erosion (or possibly both).  It was later replaced by a Priory which remained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII.

 

there are several legends told about St Eanswythe.  The story is that she chose not to marry and refused a Northumbrian prince as suitor when his pagan prayers failed a test she put to him, and could not lengthen a beam required for the building of the church.  Her own Christian Prayers succeeded however.  Other legends include providing water for her convent by making it flow uphill from a stream a mile away, restoring the sight in the blind and forbidding the birds to eat the nuns corn.

 

St Eanswythe Day is on the 12th September, this being the date her relics were translated to the new church in 1138.  These relics were rediscovered in a small leaden Saxon casket in the north wall of the High Altar Sanctuary in 1885, when work on the alabaster arcading of the chancel was being undertaken.  In 1980 these bones were examined and categories by experts. The conclusions from these examinations were that they came from one human skeleton of a young female aged between 18-25 years and about 5'4" in height.  These findings prove consistent with Eanswythe's life and story.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Oruvaq gur fvtaf

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)