GCRFKB Shalom Saint William (Multi-cache) in Eastern England, United Kingdom created by Jango & Boba Fett

This cache has been archived.

Church Warden: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it.

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Paul
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GCRFKB ▼

A cache by Jango & Boba Fett Message this owner

Hidden : 11/27/2005

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

The coordinates are for the first clue but it is better to park at 52º 38.522N, 001º 18.844E as this will minimise the number of busy roads to cross. You will have to solve five riddles before you find the cache which is a decon container that has been cunningly disguised so as not to draw attention to itself. The final cache is a Letterbox Cache for you to leave your personal stamp or calling card and collect the unique Shalom Saint William stamp.

There are four virtual and one microcache to find before the Letterbox. The walk is 3.5km and all but the last few metres into the final two caches can be done on paths. This area has defeated two previous Norvic Mouse caches which were trashed (GCA734 & GCMHXJ ) so please be discrete.

Aerial Shot

Saint William of Norwich, whose pilgramage chapel was on the heath, is the patron saint of victims of terror and abuse. His legend has been the excuse for racial abuse even in the quite recent past. To address this there is a small Travel Bug Hotel under the cache which contains wristbands much more fitting to St William's memory. Please take a wristband as reward for a successful pilgramige. There is only boarding room for small TBs here so no need to leave trade goods.

Today Mousehold Heath is a wooded Green Space within the city boundaries but in the 1800's it was industrial landscape of gravel pits, brickworks and lime kilns; the many bumps and hollows you will encounter are evidence that the Victorian terraces of Norwich were dug from this heath. In the last 100 years woodland has replaced open heath through deliberate planting in the 1920s and the removal of sheep and cattle. Unfortunately dog walking pressure has prevented attempts to regraze the heath and created problems of gorse invasion, so you are advised to use paths where possible or be prepare to be prickled.

In 1144 Easter fell early and on Good Friday, 24 March, the partially clothed body of a 12 year old boy was found by a woodsman on the heath. The boy, identified as William a skinners apprentice, had gone missing that Wednesday in the company of a stranger who had offered him work. The body had been washed but bore signs of a brutal murder. The boys body was brought first to the Magdalen Chapel and then to the Cathedral graveyard, but no murderer was ever found. However, over the following years the legend grew of how the boy was ritually killed by certain Jews, how his body was preserved from decay, and of night time visions at the alter of the cathedral. Much of this stirred up by competing parties with their own agendas to pursue.

Saint William stands as the first of the many child martyrs used to stir up anti-Semitic ideas in western Europe and so is England's Kiristallnacht foretelling the massacres in York and Lincoln and the expulsion of the Jews in 1290. We hope that this cache will in some small way help to redress that balance and bring some good from Williams lonely death.

Park by the pavilion on the west side of Gurney Road. The pavilion is now a restaurant but there are still public toilets alongside. You will have to cross three roads but after that your walk should be vehicle free.

The riddles - solve them and you will find the location of the St William's Letterbox.

A - 52º 38.489N, 001º 18.906E: The Norfolk lads marched up the hill into Britannia's billet, two years before when sod was broke you must find the final digit.

B - 52º 38.445N, 001º 18.75X E (X=the Norfolk Regiment): Where Beaufort fell and Hampden came this place it marks two years below, and you must find two score less than the difference of both of these.

C - 52º 38.72A N, 001º 18.180E: From shores of Caen the stone was brought to build the Magdalen's spital, now mark you well, as Will was brought in, the number of Norman portals.

The Magdalen Hospital and Leper House was built in 1101 and stands on Ravensgate Way, the main Medieval route north of the city to St Bennet's Abbey on the Broads. It is easiest to follow this main path keeping slightly north of the straight line route which is infested with brambles and gorse.

D - 52º 38.71A N, 001º 19.11C E: I mark the south most bound of William's cell and on my boreal face, the mason scored some letters well to lead you to the place; so add to these to make a word that sounds like lark but rhymes with pray. Now take the letter you did add and double its number value.

The linear banks to your north mark the site of the Chapel of St William's in the Wood. This is where St William's body was discovered on Good Friday in 1144.

E & F - [microcache] - 52º 38.754N, 001º 18.672E: You'll find no perch, nor rod nor pole, within the stockman's pool, but one sixteenth turn from point of Pole ten perchs you'll need to find me beneath my oakey ledge. The royal colour to the East and to the North be green.

Vinegar Pond is a clay lined dew pond formerly used to water cattle on there way from fattening on the marshes to Norwich Market and St Faith's fair at Horsham.

Letterbox - 52º 38.FDC North, 001º 18.EAB East: Don't force the cache out as it can be gently extracted. Remember to collect your wristband from the Bug Haus.

The way back to the carpark is a pleasant stroll through the woods following clear but circuatory paths, or you could bash your way in a straight line through bramples, up and down slippery clay banks.

Please check out the Geocaching Association of Great Britain offering support for Geocachers in GB.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

1. Gur lrne jbex fgnegrq ba Oevgnaavn Oneenpxf 2. Sbhegl lrnef yrff guna gur qvssrerapr orgjrra gur lrnef ba gur svany gjb yvarf bs gur cyndhr. 3. Pbhag gur ahzore bs Abezna qbbejnlf vagb gur Ynmne Ubhfr. 4. Purpx hc ba lbhe Oevgvfu oveqf. 5. N sheebj vf sbhegl ybat. 6. Gur gernfher yvrf va gra qvane qubj. Guvf vf TPRS17.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

This cache has been archived.

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Shalom Saint William Multi-cache

This cache has been archived.

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Geocache Description:

Attributes

Inventory

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