The Unforgettable Fire Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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in our disclaimer.
Above co-ordinates are not the location of the cache and are for reference only. They will however get you to the public road that passes the ruins of Moydrum Castle (used on album cover of the 1984 album ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ by U2). Cache is located in a wooded area nearby. Please note that the castle is on private ground. Please obey all signage.
William Handcock served as a member of parliament in Grattan’s Parliament, representing Athlone until the parliament’s dissolution in 1800 following the Act of Union with the United Kingdom. In 1812, Handcock was created 1st baron Castlemaine.
The baron decided to create an appropriate stately home on his lands at Moydrum. The resulting gothic-revivalist castle was completed in 1814.
Growing tensions in Ireland ultimately led to the Irish War of Independence of 1919 – 1921. In early July 1921 British military forces burned several homes in south Westmeath and, incensed, local Irish Republican Army (IRA) forces felt that this could not go unpunished. Moydrum Castle, given its status as the seat of a prominent member of the British House of Lords, was chosen as a suitably symbolic subject for their reprisals. On the night of July 3rd, 1921, an assembly of IRA members marched on this castle. The 5th baron was out of Ireland at the time but his wife and daughter, together with several servants, were in residence and were woken by knocking at the door. The baroness and her daughter were given time to gather together a few valuable belongings before the building was set alight. The blaze completely destroyed the castle.
That famous U2 photograph........
The U2 album ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ was released on 1 October 1984. The album took its name and much of its inspiration from a Japanese travelling exhibition of paintings and drawings at The Peace Museum in Chicago, by survivors of the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. U2 spent a few days driving around Ireland looking for potential locations for the album cover. The band liked the ambiguity and the Irish mysticism they saw at Moydrum Castle.
Puzzle to work out the cache location
What year was Moydrum castle completed? Answer = A
What year was the Act of Union? Answer = B
What year was the album ‘The Unforgettable Fire’ released? Answer = C
What year was the unforgettable fire at Moydrum castle?Answer = D
Cache located at N53 25 ((A-B)x42)+10
W007 51 ((C-D)x4)+5
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fgnl ba gur Cebzranqr bs vil pynq, byq gerr fghzcf.
Nobhg unys jnl, n ybarfbzr, lbhatre gerr fgnaqf jvgu Cevqr, Ybbx qbja ybj!