Church Micro 7890...Ashow
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There are some score marks that form diagonal lines on the walls at one corner of the church. on one face of the stone block how man lines are there? To find the cache you need to go to N52 19.717 W 001 32. (X+3)30 Please use the co-ordinates for parking - then walk round church to get the marks to head off to get the final.
I had a good walk around and looked at a number of graves to make this a multi. In the end I had decided which you would need to visit and what you would need to answer. Taking a random drive out recently I came across a lovely Warwickshire village called Ashow, between Coventry and Leamington Spa, I drove to a dead end in the village and then took a small path into the churchyard. As I took the co-ords for GZ - I decided to check if any other caches were close by, to discover that there is a cache very close. It is was a dreaded blue question mark one. So this was soon solved and "found".As I was finding the cache a local jogger came running past, and we had a bit of a chat about geocaching as his daughter had done some in a school project. He mentioned that on the corner of the church there are some marks where somebody had allegedly scraped arrows along the wall to sharpen them.I had to return to check this out as I used to do a bit of archery myself. This extra bit of info makes this an ideal feature for you to check when at the church - turning this into a multi. About the Church... The parish church of THE ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY, dating from the early part of the 12th century, is situated on the north bank of the River Avon, a little to the south-west of the village. It has a small churchyard with a wide-spreading yew-tree near the entrance. It consists of a chancel, nave, and west tower. Both the nave and chancel have tiled roofs of fairly steep pitch. The chancel and nave are early-12th-century, and the square tower was added about the middle of the 15th century. The tower has a moulded plinth which is continued round the buttresses. It rises in three stages, with a battlemented parapet and the broken remains of pinnacles at each angle. It is built of red sandstone ashlar with angle buttresses in four stages terminating at the base of the parapet wall, similar buttresses at right angles butt on to the west wall of the nave. The west door has a pointed arch with a deep moulded splay which continues down the jambs to a splayed stop, and a label with return ends. Above is a two-light pointed window with cinquefoil tracery, of two splayed orders with a hood-moulding. Above this is a looplight to the circular tower staircase, with splayed head, jambs, and sill, and over it the belfry window, which is similar to the one below. The belfry windows repeat on the north, south, and east, that on the east being blocked with brickwork and partly covered by the nave roof. There are two loop-lights to the stair on the south side, and clock faces are on the north and west sides only. The north wall of the nave is built of red sandstone in coursed rubble with ashlar dressings and splayed plinth, and has two small early-12th-century round-headed windows. In the centre of the wall there is a blocked late-12th-century doorway, with a segmental head and foliated capitals almost entirely obscured by thick ivy. The north wall of the chancel is also of coursed rubble and has one round-headed window similar to those in the nave wall. Near the west end is a blocked low-side window with deeply splayed head, jambs, and sill. The east gable wall is constructed of ashlar, probably refaced when the 15thcentury window was put in, which is a three-light with cinquefoil tracery, with a pointed arch and hoodmoulding, all much restored. There is an angle buttress at the south-east corner only, probably part of the 15thcentury work. The south wall has a square-headed two-light window of two splayed orders, probably inserted at the end of the 16th century. Near the west end is a blocked low-side window, slightly larger than that on the north side. The south aisle wall has been entirely rebuilt in light-coloured sandstone ashlar with wide shallow buttresses at each end, probably late in the 18th century. There are two windows of two lights with splayed jambs and four-centred arches with plain tracery and a central door with a three centered arch having a plain chamfered edge. The whole of the interior has been rendered all over with a thick coat of plaster, lined out as ashlar, which obscures all the details. The chancel (19 ft. × 17 ft. 6 in.) has an early-12thcentury wall arcade on both sides, of four semicircular arches supported on corbels which may be capitals with the shafts missing, as there are traces of attached shafts at the eastern ends, but all detail is hidden under the plaster. The 12th-century window has wide-splayed reveals, the east window is slightly splayed, the pointed arch following the external one. The south window has splayed reveals and flat head, as on the outside. The chancel arch is semicircular and not of the full thickness of the wall. It has what appears to be a splayed abacus on the south side and a capital with an engaged shaft on the north, but here again all detail is hidden by plaster. The plaster ceiling, of very flat pitch, has traces of moulded trusses with carved bosses showing through the plaster. There is one step to the altar and the floor is paved with stone. The nave (46 ft. × 21 ft.) has a flat matchboarded ceiling fixed just below the level of the wall-plate, concealing an open timber roof. The two 12th-century windows have widely splayed reveals with semicircular arches. The south windows have splayed reveals with arches following the external ones. The tower arch is lofty, of two splayed orders, and is filled in with a modern screen to form a west porch. The seating of box-pews, pulpit, reading-desk, chancel dado, and altar table are all of late-18th-century workmanship in oak. The pulpit, placed on the north side of the chancel arch, is octagonal and supported on a short central octagonal shaft with a curved splayed capital. It is panelled with moulded and fielded panels and has bands of carved fret at the top and bottom. Modern square legs have been added for additional support. The font is modern, of gothic design. It is placed near the west end on the south side. The floor is paved with stone slabs. The tower (8 ft. × 8 ft.). The west door has square reveals with a square head, the south-west angle is splayed for the tower circular staircase in the thickness of the wall, its doorway has a pointed arch of a single splay with moulded stops. The ancient door is made out of a single plank, two inches thick, with plain straphinges, an iron ring with an octagonal plate and a semielliptical escutcheon with poppy-head in relief at the top. On the north wall is painted a list of charities, and hung on the south wall is a painted coat of arms of George III. The floor is of modern red tiles. There are several mural tablets, but none earlier than the 19th century. The plate, silver gilt chalice, ciborium, and paten with hall-mark 1638, was given by Alice, Duchess Dudley. There is also a modern silver chalice. There are four bells by John Briant of Hertford, 1793. (fn. 46) The parish registers begin in 1733, the earlier registers having been converted into spills by a former parish clerk who was a publican. (fn. 47) In the churchyard, a little south of the chancel is the base of a cross with an octagonal shaft and base resting on two square steps. The base is slightly moulded and the top step has splayed stops at the corners. Only the lower course of the shaft remains, with a modern moulded capital added. ****************** ******************** 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. ****************** *******************
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Unatvat haqre nf lbh tb bire. Vs lbh ner ybbxvat evtug vg’f ba yrsg