St Peter's Church Marsh Baldon
"Marsh Baldon, Toot Baldon, Baldon on the Green,
Little Baldon, Big Baldon, Baldon-in-between"
This old rhyme is a reminder that there are a number of settlements in the area known as the Baldons. Probably Toot Baldon was the earliest settlement, dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, although the area was inhabited by the Saxons before them. Toot means a lookout, and Baldon is a corruption of the Anglo-Saxon name meaning Bealda's Hill. The name became Baldedone in the Domesday Book; all the Baldons shared a common field system, with strip farming and a three-yearly rotation of crops.
Earliest references to ecclesiastical history suggest that there were Anglo-Saxon chapels at both Toot and Marsh Baldon. The first clear reference to a church in the Baldons is a Papal Bull of 1163, and it seems likely that the reference is to Baldon St Lawrence, as its position on a commanding hill is more central. Furthermore, the Baldon "feast" for both villages was close to St Lawrence's day. Subsequent documentation does not mention Toot Baldon church by name, just "Baldon Church", whilst St Peter's is always described as Marsh Baldon Church. The present St Peter's Church was probably a replacement of an old Anglo-Saxon chapel, for the sun-dial in a frame of cable moulding over the south door is of that earlier period.
Marsh Baldon is said to have one of the largest Village Greens in Oxfordshire, including a still active village Cricket Pitch. Parking is easy around the Green, although for a simple Cache & Dash, parking is also possible alongside the Churchyard gate. The Cache is not placed within the Churchyard, and so it is not necessary to enter the Churchyard, or indeed to walk on any cultivated ground or garden. No Spring flowers need to be trampled whilst searching. You are looking for a Cache a little larger than a film canister, but please make sure to replace white side out !
Congratulations to Brad-Ox for his very first ever FTF.
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