A simple offset cache based around the wonderful medieval church of St Pancras
St Pancras Church is a small church situated in the middle of the Guildhall Shopping Centre in Exeter. The majority of the church dates from the thirteenth century, although the font is eleventh century. The church probably occupies the oldest Christian site in Exeter, and is usually open on weekdays. The church is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.
EXTERIOR: The church is a two-cell structure consisting of a small nave and lower chancel. The west wall is blind. The fenestration is varied. The chancel has a lancet window on the north side which also has an uncusped Y-tracery window. The east window has three-light uncusped intersecting tracery window. The nave has two-light plain mullioned windows, one on the north, two on the south, probably dating from the C16. The entrance is through a south doorway which has an almost semi-circular head.
INTERIOR: The interior walls have been stripped of their plaster. Between the nave and chancel is an arch of Bath stone with an inner order of chamfering rising from corbels. This is very evidently Victorian work and its neatness contrasts with the rest of the fabric. There is an open wagon roof over the nave and a keel-shaped one over the chancel. In the north-east part of the nave is a rood-loft stair.
PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The oldest item is a circular, tapering C12 font with a band of beaded ornament round the middle of the bowl. In the chancel there is a C13 piscina with a trefoil head. Above this is a small square opening for storage. The pulpit is Jacobean, polygonal, with foliage around rectangular panels. On the south wall of the chancel are a pair of corbels, one probably C12, the other C13. There are a five wall monuments from the C18th and early C19 which were brought here from All Hallows' Church when it was demolished in 1906 for road widening. The east window has stained glass of 1899.
HISTORY: The dedication to St Pancras is suggestive of a very ancient foundation but the church is not mentioned until 1191. However, what was said to be a Saxon doorway was discovered in the south wall of the chancel but all trace of this vanished in the late C19 rebuilding. What we see today is probably largely C13 work, with the chancel arch being carefully rebuilt in the 1880s by the well-known church architect, J L Pearson. The church has had a chequered history, being disused between 1658 and 1831. In 1831 the chancel arch was destroyed and replaced by a plain brick one: this in turn was replaced by the present one under Pearson. The area round the church was comprehensively redeveloped from 1969 as a shopping complex and further more in 2016, the church sits in a sunken area surrounded by shops. Despite this unprepossessing setting, the church is of significance as a rare survivor among the numerous examples that existed in this medieval city.
The cache is a magnetic micro, containing only a log, and to work out the final, find the answers to the following questions. The cache is a short walk away from the church, due to the density of nearby caches, and you will need to use extreme stealth.
Number of keyholes in the door? A
Number of vertical drainpipes on the church? B
Number of bells on the roof? C
There is a blue plaque on the church:
Number of letters in the first and second words (added together)? D
Number of letters in the first word of the second line of text? E
The cache can be found at N 50 43.(Ax2)B(B-C), W 003 31.D(D-A)E
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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 at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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