St Mary's Hartley Wintney is a Grade II listed church that has been under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust since 1975. Originally built by the Nuns of Wintney Priory in the 13th-century, it initially consisted of a nave and chancel, the transepts and flint tower were added in the 19th-century. Inside the church there are the remains of 13th-century wall paintings, including one depicting St Christopher and another of St George killing the dragon.
Within the churchyard are the graves of two notable commanders of the British Army - General Henry 'Hangman' Hawley, who defeated Bonny Prince Charlie at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke, Churchill's closest military advisor during the Second World War.
The Cache: To find the cache which is not within or accessible from the Church grounds you will need to use the following information to calculate the coordinates. There is no need to leave the paths in order to obtain the necessary information. Enter the graveyard from the parking layby through the northernmost gate. The listed coordinates are for an unusual gravestone with dragons etched on to it. Let the year in which Celia died be ABCD. How many letters are there in her second name? Let this be E.
From here take the nearby gravel path in a southerly direction clockwise around the church (enjoy the view) to waypoint 1. You are looking for the gravestone of Elizabeth, Wife of William Darnell who departed this life in the year 1F61. Continue on the path to waypoint 2 where you will find a green bench with an inscription dedicated to Jean Amos. How many letters are there in the 8th word on the 4th line of the inscription? Let this be G.
The cache can be found at N51 (F-G)G.(A+E)F(E-D) W000 E(D+C).B(G-E)(C+G)
The checksum for the complete coordinates is 50.
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here:
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at:
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html