The signs can be made of different materials from fibreglass to wood, from forged steel to stone. They can depict anything from local industry to historical events. The tradition probably stated in Norfolk or Suffolk and has now spread across most of the country so we thought we would base a series on them!
Leverstock Green is a suburb of Hemel Hempstead, in Hertfordshire. Despite its recent amalgamation with Hemel Hempstead, the old names remain in memory of historical times.
Leverstock Green is a "modern" parish, formed about 1849 from parts of the parishes of St Michael's (St Albans), Abbots Langley and Hemel Hempstead.
There is documentary and archaeological evidence that people lived and worked in the immediate area of Leverstock Green from the time of the Roman occupation onwards. Recent research indicates that settlement along Westwick Row may well date back even further to the Iron Age and perhaps the Bronze Age. It seems quite likely that this settlement was a "suburb" of the major Iron Age settlement at Pre Wood just outside St. Albans.
Leverstock Green was and is still affected by the 2005 Buncefield oil depot explosion (the largest explosion in peacetime Europe), causing damage to houses and other buildings, such as broken windows, fallen chimneys and in some cases more serious structural damage, temporarily displacing a number of families.
The sign was erected in 1999 to celebrate the Millennium and depicts village life at its height, although this is very faded! The reference to Westwicke Manor is reference to Westwick Row and its recent links to the past!
On the reverse of the depicted sign, at the base,is a small plaque and on it is a phone number:
01442 ABCDEF
Simply take the numbers and fill in this matrix (you have to take 1 from B, couldn't quite find the perfect spot but almost!) to find the cache!
N51° 44.A(B-1)C W000° 26.DEF
Happy caching!