Church Micro 7703... Hemmingford Grey Traditional Geocache
Church Micro 7703... Hemmingford Grey
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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THIS IS A BOAT ONLY CACHE
Please do not attempt without the correct equipment
St James' Church, alongside the Ouse, consists of a chancel, north vestry, nave, north aisle, south aisle, west tower and south porch. The walls are of rubble with stone dressings and the roofs are covered with slates and lead.
The church is not mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, it is believed the church was first built in the first half of the twelfth century by Payn of Hemingford, a tenant of Ramsey Abbey, perhaps with a central tower, and was enlarged over the following centuries. Parts of the medieval church still survive in the south aisle and nave, but in the 12th Century there was a church with a north aisle, maybe a central tower, and of this the two western bays of the nave arcade still remains. Early in the 13th century, a south aisle was added and the chancel rebuilt and rather later in the century a complete reconstruction took place which involved pulling down the central tower and the formation of two arches in its place, and the lengthening of the aisles. The aisles appear to have been widened in the 14th century, and towards the end of that century the west tower was added and the western arch of the nave arcade rebuilt. Finally, in about 1500, the clearstory was added. The spire collapsed during a hurricane in 1741 and instead of being rebuilt the stump was levelled off and was replaced with eight ball finials at its base. The church was restored in 1859, involving the rebuilding of the north aisle, the porch and the addition of the vestry. The tower was restored in 1914. The church is still in active use with up to three services on a Sunday and many more in the week. The church undertook the second phase of a restoration project in 2013 and was closed from March till September. The main part of this work was to replace plasterwork which has been significantly damaged over the years by damp and modern repair and to restore the arcades stonework.
This cache is only accessible from the water, it was placed from a kayak but there's no reason why it couldn't be found from a cruiser or even a narrow boat, if you are skilful enough with the tiller.
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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)
Punvarq hc