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Professor Xavier: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it. Please note that as this cache has now been archived by a reviewer or HQ staff it will NOT be unarchived.

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GC4WE05 ▼

A cache by cowboy&starlite Message this owner

Hidden : 1/4/2014

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Holy Trinity, Ratcliffe-On-Soar

Please do not park on the grass!

This picturesque church is tucked away from main roads in a very quiet area. It is overlooked by several houses so please be aware of this when you are conducting your search.

It is one of five churches that make up the 453 group of churches, the others being St Lawrence at Gotham, St Winifred at Kingston-on-Soar, St Georges at Barton in Fabis, and All Saints at Thrumpton.

There has long been a settlement at Ratcliffe. Iron Age and Bronze Age remains are to be found in the area and Roman remains have been found at Redhill, near the confluence of the rivers Soar and Trent. It also seems likely that a temple to Jupiter once stood there.

A Christian church existed in Ratcliffe at Domesday in 1086. It was probably a wooden structure built by the Saxons before the Norman Conquest. Together with a water mill and six acres of meadow, the village was valued at ten shillings in the early 12th century. Some possible traces of both the mill and an early church have recently been discovered and await further investigation.

The present day stone church was probably started late in the 12th Century replacing the previous wooden church dedicated to St Mary. A survey conducted in 1994 indicates that the Chancel dates from around 1160. Around 1220 the tower and nave were added. The nave aisles were constructed and a spire raised around 1290.

In the churchyard, perhaps the oldest tombs are the two, close to the porch covered with very heavy stone slabs on which a cross trefoil is still just visible. The style of these slabs suggests they may be 13th century or earlier and it is possible that the hollow stone coffin presently kept inside the church is of similar date. Most of the stones commemorate the villagers themselves and many are assembled in sections of close relatives as in other churchyards. The inscriptions on the oldest of the sandstone are barely discernable. The elegantly engraved stones are covered with attractive scrollwork and in some cases appropriate symbols of mortality. Some bear verses that give a brief biography of the dead.

A feature that catches the visitor’s eye inside the church is undoubtedly the fine alabaster effigies on the altar tombs commemorating the four successors of the Sacheverall family who were Lords of the Manor in the early 16th century to the middle of the 17th century. There are numerous alabaster floor slabs dating from the fifteenth century but they are largely undecipherable.

For a more detailed description of the church, please visit:
http://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/ratcliffe-on-soar/hintro.php

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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.

See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre vasb obneq EUF, cyrnfr qb abg cnex ba gur tenff!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

Holy Trinity, Ratcliffe-On-Soar

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Church Micro 4863...Ratcliffe-On-Soar Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

Holy Trinity, Ratcliffe-On-Soar

Attributes

Inventory

Bookmark Lists