The cache is a 35mm film canister and on placing contained a
logbook and shaped eraser for first to find.
Please replace as found. Cache is NOT located on church
property.
And now some history and interesting facts about the St
Alban’s Church, Frant…
A Christian chapel was established in Frant nearly one thousand
years ago, in 1087, as a dependency of Rotherfield. The chapel was
probably a timber structure into the late 12th or early 13th
century, when a stone building gradually replaced it. A north aisle
was added in the 15th century.
We do not perhaps consider what an enormous effort it was for a
small poor parish to build their own church; work often had to stop
for years at a time. It is unlikely that Frant could have afforded
much professional help, and the church seems to have been slightly
ramshackle as a result.
Bills for repairs - so what's new! - increased throughout the
18th century and when a boy was killed in 1819 'by a stone falling
from the old tower' it was decided that nearly everything would be
pulled down and rebuilt 'because it is in such a ruinous
state'.
The major work was completed in 1822, with extensions being
added in the 1860s. The stump of the old tower was re-encased in
stone and it remains the oldest part of the building. Unfortunately
only fragments of stained glass remain, after a flying bomb landed
nearby in 1944.
Some interesting facts about St Alban’s… Two of the
six bells in St Alban's Church tower were cast in 1633 during the
reign of King Charles I - and the same year as Samuel Pepys was
born. They are still rung regularly today 370 years later. The
other four bells were cast between 1715 and 1777. All six bells are
considerably older than the present Church building. The bells were
not a matching set until 1981 when they were tuned and re-hung by
the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
On Christmas Day 1966 - with the Church filled to capacity - the
organ broke down! This led to the organ being identified as an
extremely valuable French instrument, built by August Gern. Gern
worked with Aristide Cavaille-Coll to build the organ in Notre
Dame.
Among the attractions of the churchyard is the Ashburnham
memorial to a Frant retiree, which is inscribed: Lieutenant Colonel
John By - Royal Engineers - 1783-1836. While organising the Rideau
canal building scheme in Canada, John By founded a town called
Bytown to house the workers. In 1855 Queen Victoria renamed the
town Ottawa, which became the capital city of Canada.
During the Napoleonic era, a military camp was situated near
Groombridge. In 1779 eighteen soldiers died from smallpox and were
buried in the churchyard.
If any body would
like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you
could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the
Church numbers and names to avoid duplication