Re-routing Ramsgate Traditional Cache
bugguy: Circumstances beyond my control require me to abandon this cache. A friend will place another nearby very soon!
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The cache is an 8 oz (240mL) plastic lock-lock container with log book, pen and some space for trinkets. It is placed just off Ramsgate Road opposite a bus stop (Dumpton-Brown Jug) and a post office. The difficulty rating reflects the requirement for stealth. There is parking adjacent to the cache and on nearby streets.
Every now and then you see something on the map that defies common sense. Such a place can be found on the Ramsgate/Broadstairs border, where Ramsgate Road, which connects Ramsgate to Broadstairs, branches into two roads, both named Ramsgate Road, which quickly merge back together.
So what happened here?
A quick look around reveals several flint-walled buildings that were part of a farmstead that existed in this place for a very long time. The old farmhouse, listed as a 17th century building but rebuilt in Victorian times, is still used as a residence. It appears to have its front on the busy branch of Ramsgate Road that is now A255. This branch, however, is actually the newer of the two branches of Ramsgate Road. The older branch, where this cache is located, passes by the other side of the farm house, giving a view of a small farmer’s cottage, and revealing a larger flint building now called the Brown Jug, formerly the Brown Jug Inn. Evidence of the existence of the Brown Jug goes back to 1725, and it probably served as a farm cottage well before then. There is further evidence that the Inn served as a mess hall and rallying point for militia at the turn of the 18th century and as a halfway house on the road between Ramsgate and Broadstairs in the 19th century. The garden is reputed to be haunted by the ghost of a young woman. The old farmstead had more buildings associated with it, but they have been lost to development.
Why change the course of the road? I’m told that the older branch of Ramsgate road was the site of a significant number of traffic accidents. Constructing the newer branch straightened Ramsgate Road, and made it much safer for modern drivers.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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Treasures
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