This cache has a theme of pest control, whether the pests be local miscreants, contagious diseases, Napoleonic prisoners of war, or invading armadas.
The starting point for the cache is in the Bury (apparently derived from the old English word "Bearh", meaning Hill, not what goes on very near by), at the Odiham village stocks located at:
N51 15.184 W0 56.435
According to the plaque on the stocks, what year were the stocks erected?
_ _ _ _
A B C D
Now do the following sum
_ _ _ _
W X Y Z = ABCD + 1466
The next stop on the cache is the Pest house. To find its location, substitute the numbers obtained above for the letters below.
N51 15.1 _ _ W0 56.4 _ _
N51 15.1 W X W0 56.4 Y Z
The Pest house is one of 5 remaining pest houses in the UK. It was built in the early 1600s to house people suffering with the plague and other epidemic diseases. As it says on one of the posters inside, it is conveniently located either for thanksgiving should the sufferer recover, or burial should they not.
On the way to the Pest House you will pass All Saints church. Above the end door you will find two shields, one which indicates the reigning monarch, and the other with a date. Note down this date as:
_ _ _ _
E F G H
The Pest House is open on weekends and bank holidays, and it is worth having a quick browse through it if you have a chance. At other times, a key may be obtained from the location advertised on the windows of the house.
Nearby is the grave of John Harris, and his son John Harris. What was the age of John the elder when he died?
_ _
I J
In what year did they die?
_ _ _ _
K L M N
To obtain the location of the next point on the journey, fill in the numbers.
N51 _ _ . _ _ _ W0 _ _ . _ _ _
N51 K (M+N).(K-E) K H W0(M+N)(J+N).(M+N)F I
To get there, head towards the southwest across the grass. After crossing a bit of field, you will reach the Chalk Pit, one of the largest in Hampshire. It is currently a farm, but has in the course of time housed French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic wars, and during World War I was a harbour for Royal Navy airships. The prisoners of war were allowed to roam, and give their names to Frenchmans Oak (in Odiham Common, and now somewhat the worse for age and propped up) which was the limit of their freedom and Frenchmans Cottage in the High Street. You are looking for somewhere to sit at the particular coordinates. There you will find some dates.
As the plaque has gone missing, for the moment here is the information that is needed. The bench is in Memory of Dan Pratt, 1924-1995.
19 _ _ - 19 _ _
19 P Q - 19 R S
You now have all the information for the location of the cache, which is a green ammo box. The location is
N51 _ _ . _ _ _ W0 _ _ . _ _ _
N51 E Q . X G H W0 S H . (I-J)(P+S) R
There is a footpath which leads across the field in generally the right direction, or you may chose to head west to the road (the B3349 to Alton). In either case, you will need to cross the (busy) road, and I strongly suggest you do this at the top of the hill where there is a pedestrian island. This will also lead you to the cache from the right direction.
The cache is located in an area of land known as The Firs now owned by the Odiham Parish council. In former times it was one of the beacon hills, and was used to signal the approch of the Spanish Armada. These days you get good views - south towards Alton, and towards the west you can see Basingstoke.
You will likely pass a present day beacon, a navigational aid for RAF Odiham. The RAF base is home to the Chinook helicopters and are often flying over.
When placed, the contents of the cache were:
- Disposable camera - please take a photo and leave it in the cache - Photos can be found here.
- 2 Lola Formula 1 (remember them - probably not) team pins
- Unused eyemask (airline type - but a nice one - for the sleepy geocacher)
- Motorola car phone charger (older type I'm afraid)
- Bottle of Water (for the thirsty geocacher)
- A number of deodorising towelets (for the sweaty geocacher)
- Small decorative boomerang (for the returning geocacher)
- A range of foreign money for taking/swapping including some out of circulation pre-Euro money
- A rechargable battery
More information about Odiham, including most of what I've got here can be found at http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/ovendens/odiham.htm
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