St Laurence Church, Upwey
Seeing as there is evidence of a church on this site as early as 1201, there is most certainly a lot of history attached to it. I have read it up and picked out the four most interesting facts.
1. In 1348 the priest of St Laurence’s became the first person to die of the Black Death in England after it was brought in on a boat docking in Weymouth.
2. On the wall to the East of the porch there are some verses from Proverbs 24 thought to refer to the turmoil of the Civil War. Here are the verses from my ‘Easy To Read’ Bible. ‘For the evil man has no future. His light will be snuffed out. My son, watch your step before the Lord and the King and don’t associate with radicals. For you will go down with them to sudden disaster, and who knows where it all will end?’
3. In Medieval times the Font was replaced and you can see the old one reused as a pedestal for the rear pillar of the North Aisle.
4. In 1891 a Vestry Meeting decided there was sometimes a ‘sickly unhealthy smell from the floor’. Five burial vaults were then filled in and the whole floor concreted over. That would have made a great episode for The Vicar of Dibley.
Now for my personal and up-to-date history of the church. In 1949 My mum and dad got married here.
Last year, 2015, I took them back when they celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary. Look they’re STILL smiling.
When you’ve logged the cache, if you fancy a cuppa I can recommend the Wishing Well Cafe just down the road. They’ll let you into the gardens to see the Well.
Go to the published coords and find Bernard Moore who was a state drummer in the Household Cavalry and let his dates be abcd – efgh
Cache is a nano (sorry not many hiding places without going over the stile) and can be found at
N50 39.(c+d)(b-a)b W002 28.(b-e)(d+h)(b-h)
Checksum = 74
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