the oldest cache in croxley?
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The cache is located on the boundary of croxley house easily accessible from the green area. The cache is away from peering eyes except if you decide to do it on the 3rd weekend in June when the revels are on, or possible when carters steam fare visits.
Both pubs on the village green are worth a visit as is the indian shop at the other end of the green
The manor of CROXLEY (Crokesleya, xii cent.; Crokeslega, xiii cent.; Crokesle, xiv cent.) is stated to have been given to the monastery of St. Albans by Offa, king of Mercia. Richard de Croxley was one of the knights of St. Albans in 1166, and paid a fine for land in Hertfordshire ten years later, and in 1210–12 Richard de Croxley and Philip de Oxhey held one knight's fee of the abbot of St. Albans. Later in the thirteenth century the whole fee seems to have come into the hands of a member of the family of Croxley, whose Christian name is not known, and who died leaving two sons, Richard and Roger. Richard died without heirs, and Roger left three daughters, Petronilla de Ameneville, Beatrice wife of John de Shelford, and Joan de Wauncy. The manor of Croxley was conveyed by the numerous co-heirs of these three ladies to the abbot of St. Albans, and in 1303 he was holding a quarter of a fee in Croxley without any sub-tenant,and the manor does not seem to have been again subinfeudated at any subsequent time.
The existing manor-house was probably built about the end of the sixteenth century. The exterior has been much modernized and refaced with brick. Judging from the existing plan of the house, it would seem to have consisted of a central hall extending from front to back of the house. On the west side of the hall is an old panelled parlour, and on the east side is the front entrance with a narrow corridor, and a wing containing the kitchen offices. The building is of two stories.
At the west end of the house is a very massive old projecting chimney of brick. Through the lower part of this projecting brickwork is a deep arched opening with a window into the parlour. This window, pierced through the base of the chimney, appears to be an original feature, and is somewhat unusual. The bricks of this chimney are not more than 2¼ in. thick, and the joints are wide. These are the only old bricks visible in the building.
The parlour which adjoins the chimney is a room about 17 ft. square, and the walls from floor to ceiling are covered with oak panelling with moulded margins. A heavy beam, cased in panelling, runs along the ceiling, and is supported at the ends by solid curved struts. The existing fireplace is modern, but immediately above it the panels have arched heads, instead of being square as in the rest of the room. This evidently was intended to stand in the place of an overmantel to the old fireplace below. The door of this room has the quaint old forged double ornamental hinges of the period. None of the other rooms are panelled, but the old beams supporting the upper floor have roughly cut splayed edges with stops. The room, or old hall, adjoining the parlour has the remains of an ingle-nook, but the fireplace is modern.
The front door, which faces north, has a splayed oak frame, with a low four-centred arched head. A large baking oven projects outside, beside the fireplace in the kitchen, and, like many others in the district, has a tiled roof over it. All the chimneys, with the exception of the stack at the west end, are modern, that chimney being in fact almost the only external sign of antiquity about the building.
Currently the house is used as an old peoples home, hence 'the oldest cache in croxley'as well as it being the 1st to be put out.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fgnaq va qvgpu ybbx ba gbc bs gur evtug unaq pbeeare bs gur jnyy