Church Micro 3003...Broadmayne Multi-cache
Church Micro 3003...Broadmayne
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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A Church Micro at St Martin's Church, Broadmayne.
The Chancel is early English, dating from the 13th century and is the oldest part of the church. The windows are original, and the priest's door now blocked up, can be seen in the south wall outside.
The Chancel Arch is Victorian, but its 14th century predecessor now forms the entry to the vestry from the north aisle.
The Nave is 14th century. The south and west doorways and the window near the pulpit are of this date. The window by the font and large west window over the west door are 15th century in the perpendicular style. There are stoups outside both doors. It was common practice in the mediaeval church to have more than one altar. Here there were probably three; the main one in the chancel and the lesser ones on either side of the chancel arch. Each altar had its own piscina. In this church one can be seen in the south wall of the nave, partially obscured by the pulpit. There is no sign of the north altar, but, built into the porch near the stoup is another piscina, which has been moved here to house a statue. This probably came from the north wall and served the altar there.
The North Aisle and Vestry. These are 19th century additions except for the old chancel arch, already mentioned and the most easterly of the windows, which is 14th century, and was originally in the old north wall of the nave. The remaining windows, although of identical design are 19th century.
The enlargement of the church took place around 1865 and the architect, John Hicks of Dorchester, prepared detailed drawings of his proposals together with plans of the fabric as it then existed. These drawings were undertaken by Thomas Hardy who was then articled to Hicks. They have been preserved and a copy of them can be seen framed in the vestry. They show that before the reconstruction there were galleries on the north and west sides of the nave approached by a separate staircase, that on the west rising in a step curve from the west door, whilst that on the north was external.
The Tower was probably built on the south side instead of the west to secure a firmer foundation. The land on the west drops away sharply behind the church. It has several lancet windows of the 13th century and the entire structure is probably of that period. The vents in the top stage are Tudor and probably present the only major change in the tower throughout its long life. The ground floor serves as the porch and contains the old piscina which would have been used for a statue and a stoup already mentioned. Outside the porch to the east of the doorway is a scratch dial three feet from the ground. High in the tower is a niche, now filled in, which originally would have been for a statue of St Martin.
The Font. The bowl of the font is 15th century, but the base and pedestal are modern.
The above co-ordinates lead to the grave stone of Joanna Bascombe who departed this life December 15th ABCD aged EF
The cache can be found at:
N50 40. (B-A) E D
W002 23. (F-E) (E-A) D
Checksum = 41
Congratulations to S+B for FTF.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
There is also a Church Micro Stats page found via the Bookmark list.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre vil - nobhg 5sg 3 uvtu.