Girton Church Micro # 1171 Traditional Geocache
RamblingRaynors: Have to say goodbye , due to last log cache has gone missing and and we (Rambling Raynors) have moved to a different area so unable to replace Girton CM. would like to thank everyone that has found our cache. :)
Girton Church Micro # 1171
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Girton is a lovely village, which we often pass through on route to Cambridge, and felt that this village needed a cache, and where else better than to place in the vicinity of the Church.
The cache is located close to the church but not on the church grounds. Take a visit to the church before or after picking up this cache.
Parking Co-ordinates:
N52. 14. 416
E000. 05. 036
Girton Church probably dates from Saxon times. The earliest artifact in the present church is a Saxon altar-stone (discovered in the churchyard in 1951). The Church's history starts in 992 AD with the gift of a manor in Girton of about 500 hectares to Ramsey Abbey. If a church already existed, it was probably of timber and thatch construction, on the site of the present-day church. If not, it is probable that the Abbey would have built a church on this site soon after becoming Lord of the Manor.
The first official reference to a church in Girton comes in a Papal Bull of 1178 which validates the rights of Ramsey abbey to 'Girton with its church and all its appurtenances.' It was known as St Andrew's by 1240.
During the Middle Ages, there were five Girton guilds - fraternities of lay folk under the patronage of particular saints who organized welfare for the poorer members of the community, as well as funerals and feast days. These trade guilds undertook performances of plays, especially after the establishment of the Corpus Christi festival in 1311, a feast set apart especially for the performance of these pieces. As well as the major church festivals, there were twenty or thirty other feasts which they would have observed with services and processions. These guilds were craft-based, banding together master craftsmen, journeymen, apprentices and the various trades connected with a particular craft. Many guilds maintained some form of insurance for members, the elderly and widows. Until 1530, the guilds frequently received legacies, often of barley. By 1515 Girton had five guilds, each represented by individual colours: Trinity (gold), Corpus Christi (multi-coloured), St Mary (blue/white), St Nicholas (red), and All Saints (white).
Girton is a village of about 4,500 people in Cambridgeshire, England. Its about 2 miles to the northwest of Cambridge. Girton has a long history as a village, people were living there before Saxon times. The old name for Girton was Gretton, meaning 'village on the gravel', because the settlement grew up along a gravel ridge. The three oldest parts of the village are found by St Andrews Church, at Duck End and by Huntingdon Road. The village is also home to a rare variant of the grey squirrel - the black squirrel.
If anybody would like to expand the Church Micro series please do, we would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names, to avoid duplication.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jnvgvat sbe n ohf?