This is another in the large and expanding Church Micro series.
This church is St. Cuthbert’s in Elsdon, known as the Cathedral of the Rede and the mother church of Redesdale. This was once the largest parish in England covering 120 square miles of wild border country. The church is dedicated to the Celtic saint Cuthbert. In the 9th century, seven monks fleeing Viking raids on their island monastery of Lindisfarne, rested here with St Cuthbert’s coffin which contained the saint’s bones.
The present building dates from the 14th century with evidence of earlier 12th and 13th century architectural features, such as the narrow, round-arched windows in the west wall. A number of alterations were carried out in 1837. In the course of removing a huge pile of earth from behind the north wall of the church a mass grave was found. The closely-packed skeletons were the dead from the Battle of Otterburn 1388. More extensive rebuilding took place in 1877.
The interior of the church contains many interesting historical features and is usually open.
This is a Multi Cache and is not at the published co-ordinates. Visit the information panel on the wall just to the right of the gate and use the information to work out the final location.
N55 14.AAB W002 06.CDE
Where:
AA= The church was built around 14AA.
B= Number of letters in the second word, second line.
C= The digit that appears four times.
D & E = St Cuthbert’s body rested here for a short time in 8DE
Checksum of the six numbers = 19
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