Note: the original tupperware box has now been replaced by a
smaller watertight flare cannisiter which will only take small
items. Please also remember to replace the inner lid when done with
the cache.
The cache
Tattenham Corner is the nearest car park to the cache and is
located at: N51.18.398
W000.14.921 (the gates are locked
every night at 9p.m.(dusk in the winter months) so night cachers
will have to walk a bit further and park at one of the other two
car parks next to the mini roundabout at the entrance to the
Downs). From Tattenham Corner the cache is approximately half a
mile away. Most of the journey is open ground so GPS signals are
good until you are right on top of the cache ;) Original cache
contents are aimed at younger geo-cachers (under tens).
Getting
there
The cache is located on
Epsom Downs, from London A3 then A240. From M25 junction 9 A24.
From M25 junction 8 A217 Nearest train stations: Epsom 1 1/2 miles,
Tattenham Corner 1 mile.
About the Downs
The
Downs are 600 acres of unspoilt downland from which can be seen the
whole of London to the North and rural Surrey to the South (On a
clear day!). Epsom racecourse is on the Downs
and is used for a small
number of race meetings each year.
The racing season runs from
April through to September with a mixture of day, weekend and
evening meetings and often features a wide variety of entertainment
to accompany the racing! Epsom’s most recognisable guise is ‘home
to the Derby’ - one of the oldest and most exhilarating flat races
in the world. This classic race is run over a mile and a half of
undulating inclines and tight turns, making it a true test of the
horses and jockeys involved.
The town of Epsom first
became famous for it's natural mineral water when a local farmer,
Henry Wicker took his cattle up to a watering hole on the Downs in
1618. The alleged healing properties of the water brought crowds
from London who wanted to escape the squalor in return for the
country air.
1661 saw the first recorded
race meeting to be held on the Downs and the tradition continued
until the summer of 1779 when one of today's greatest sporting
spectacles was established.
Edward Smith Stanley, the
12th Earl of Derby, organised a race for himself and his friends to
race their three-year-old fillies over one and a half miles. He
named it the Oaks after his estate. The race became so successful
that the following year a new race was added for colts and
fillies.
The title of the race was
decided after the Earl of Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury, a leading
racing figure of the day and friend of the Earl's, flipped a coin.
So begun the inaugural running of the 'Derby' won, incidentally, by
Sir Charles Bunbury's horse Diomed.
The contest was held over a
mile with the starting point in a straight line beyond the current
five-furlong marker. Tattenham Corner was not introduced until 1784
when the course was extended to its current distance of a mile-
and-a-half.
The Downs are also less well
known for kite flying and the model flying strip, situated within
the racecourse, near the car park at the start of Tattenham Corner.
Model aircraft have been flown here for many decades. The first
models would have been free-flight, later control-line became
popular and then radio controlled models started to appear.
Free-flight models are still seen on the Downs from time to time
however control-line models are no longer permitted under the
byelaws.
