The Church
St Michael's at Sollers Hope is a simple two chamber church with a small timber belfry. The features suggest a 14th century date for the building.
The interior is simple and sober, with no stained glass except for the medieval fragments (mostly pieces from decorative borders c1400) found in a few traceries. The most interesting monument is a slab tomb and effigy to a medieval knight, which may date to as early as the 13th century. The font is early Norman, so at least 900 years old.
Between 1300 and 1546, Sollers Hope was home to the Whittingtons, and the church here is thought to be the work of Robert Whittington, the elder brother of Dick Whittington, the four-time Lord Mayor of London, a member of parliament and a sheriff of London, whose much simplified life story (Dick Whittington and His Cat) is familiar to every schoolchild.
It is possible that the young Dick Whittington attended Sollers Hope church before setting out for London.
In the churchyard is the partial remains of a medieval stone cross. Immediately behind the church is a tump which marks the site of a Roman camp.
The Cache
To find the cache, a bison tube, find the answers to the following questions:
Q1: Gate - How many slats on each? = A
Q2: Grave - What is Sarah Price's husbands name? = B
Q3: Which day of the month did she die? 2C
Q4: Porch - What amount is mentioned on the wooden plaque? = £DE
Q5: How many letters in the last word? = F
The cache can be found at:
N 51° 59.(C+D)(A+D)E W 002° 33.(B+F)(C*4)A
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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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