The Nine brothers of Durham is the first part of the 'Enigma
Variations' series of caches. It is an 8 part muticache including
microcaches, virtuals and a final cache. It's theme is set in
medieval times.
In 1538 King Henry VIII started the Reformation of the church
and instigated the dissolution of the monasteries. The Monks, Nuns
and higher orders were forcibly evicted and their lands seized and
sold to provide Henry with income. In general, the religious
inhabitants of the monasteries were treated fairly, but not all of
them decided to go quietly and their punishment was often swift and
final. Although the King allowed the religious orders to retain
much of their personal possessions he sent his agents to seize
several artefacts of high value that were know to him. They were to
be sold or kept for his private collection.
The Bishop of Durham, Cuthbert Tunstal was tasked by Rome with
the mission of saving certain important religious relics before
they were seized by the king's men and so it was that he came to
ask the Prior of Durham, Abbot Hugh Whitehead to send a group of
monks to retrieve and hide certain artefacts. High on their list
was an ancient Triptych depicting the resurrection, which has been
kept as the main alter piece at Wherwell Abbey. Little known to the
king, the triptych contained a secret compartment where an ancient
religious manuscript was hidden.
The monks set out to retrieve the triptych and arrived at
Wherwell Abbey just before the kings men. They were given advanced
warning of the arrival of the king's men and managed to escape to
the nearby Harewood forest near the village of Longparish. The
kings men found out that they had been beaten to their prize and
set up intercept points on the roads then started to search the
forests for the monks. Before disappearing into the forest, Brother
Philip of Poitou, a prominent scientist within the order risked all
to get a message to Abbot Whitehead via the priest at St Nicholas’
church in Longparish.
The message was written in Latin and to the casual observer
contained only a description of the brothers’ journey from Durham
and a message of good wishes to the Abbot, however an innocent ink
smudge in one corner was a hint to the Abbot to hold the parchment
close to a naked flame and then to check between the lines for a
message written in ‘invisible’ ink. The hidden message contained a
request to Abbot Whitehead that he should send a ninth brother to
retrieve the Triptych. It said that Brother Philip would meet the
ninth brother at a location encrypted within the following
sequence;
|35|8|90|68||15|1|53|3|15||20|7||4||9|8|92|60||85||7|Sb||Mg|.|Tc|Be||74|H||Mn|.|S|He|
You are the Ninth Brother and the task that is placed upon you
is to find the Eight Brothers hiding in the forest and retrieve the
Triptych's secret for Abbot Whitehead before the king’s men find
it.
Before you left the Monastery Abbot Whitehead reminded you that
you might expect further messages from the brothers in the form of
codes and puzzles. These may take the form of sequences or patterns
of numbers or coded messages using Caesar or Vigenere cipher
techniques. You go equipped with quill and parchment, a source of
illumination, a map of Harewood forest, a stout pair of boots and a
sense of adventure. God speed your journey and safe return. Near
the end of your quest, Henry’s wives may help your cause. Make a
record of any further messages.
The main co-ords relate to a parking place for part 1. All parts
are accessible from public rights of way. P 3 to 8 are accessible
using the 'test way'. It is not necessary to cross any fences. Take
care near the final 2 parts as game birds roost nearby. Total
distance to walk is approx 5km, can be muddy when wet.
3rd April 2005: Stage 7 and final have been replaced in new
positions. When solving stage 6 ADD 00.041 to the Northings and
SUBTRACT 00.036 from the Westings.
