Badshot Lea is a small village on the edge of Farnham, Surrey on
the border with Hampshire.
Known in recent history for its hop production, the area has been
inhabited since ancient times with evidence of Neolithic
settlements found by the Surrey Archaeological society and the Long
Barrow Burial mound which was discovered by the headmaster of the
village school, William "Billy" Rankine in 1967.
The village lies "Between Four Bridges" which along with the
hops that once grew here are depicted in the badge of the local
village Infants School and the village sports teams.
This cache series will lead you to the four "corners" of the
village and some of its history on the way.
The River Blackwater rises at Rowhill Nature Reserve (GR:
SU848499) between Weybourne (Farnham) and Aldershot and serves as a
17 mile (27 km) tributary to the River Loddon with its confluence
at Swallowfield near Eversley in Hampshire
This ancient river cut its way through the
Tertiary
deposits and eroded the sands and gravels to form a wide flood
plain. Consequently the modern Blackwater is a small river sitting
in a wide flood plain, beneath which lie valuable mineral
deposits.
A string of lakes left over from quarrying of the mineral deposits
along the length of the southernmost stretch of the river between
Farnham and Frimley
There are walks footpaths and cyclepaths along almost the entire
length.
This cache is hidden a short walk from Pea Bridge / Prey Bridge
which crosses the mere trickle that the River Blackwater has now
become and connects Surrey and Hampshire.
As the bridge here is not much to look at, we placed the cache
nearby, leading into the wooded area towards the next cache.
The currently location was a bit "last minute" and early reports
suggest that nettles may be a problem so please be careful out
there :-). We'll re-evaluate and possible relocate when there is a
little more foliage around.