Charlie Brown's Legacy Multi-Cache

This cache and all its stages have been placed so as to be accessible to wheelchair users. You are therefore asked to please ensure that you replace the cache exactly as you found it. Wheelchair users unable to reach may wish to take a ‘handi-grab’ stick.

The Area
At just over half a mile return trip this gentle route tours the charming hamlet of Rickford and follows the stream, known as the “Schirebourne” in the Saxon charter, through the village. Before 2002 this community was split into 2 parishes, one each side of the stream. However, following a suggestion to form a group to celebrate the millennium by Charlie Brown, who was at 91 was then the oldest inhabitant, the locals took up the cause to change this. They eventually succeeded in overturning 900 years of history when in 2003 Rickford became united into a single parish. Who says the machinery of government can’t be changed? Well done Rickford! It’s only a pity that Charlie didn’t survive to see this happen.

As part of the millennium celebrations the locals also made improvements to the village restoring and conserving some of the historic features of the village. This cache tours some of these features in celebration of their feat and Charlie Brown’s life. For further information on these stories see this web page or, better still, before your visit buy the book 'Rickford - A History of a North Somerset Village' – contact details on that site.

Parking
Parking is a challenge in Rickford as there is very limited on street parking around the Plume of Feathers pub. The Plume is highly recommended, especially as Charlie’s portrait, pint mug and rum chaser glass are still in their place in the pub. Please park thoughtfully so as not to cause an obstruction.
If you are visiting this cache on the day of the Burrington Combe Bash event you are encouraged to make the short walk here from the Burrington Inn as the location will not cope with an influx of vehicles.

The Route
Stage 1 - The coordinates for this cache will guide you to Rickford Mill Bridge where the water from the Rickford Rising passes under the road to fill the mill pond. Please take extreme care here, especially with children, as this short section of the route is on the relatively busy A368. ‘The Rising’ can be seen from this bridge on the south side of the road and is the spring where the waters which earlier went underground into the caves of Burrington Combe reappear having flowed under the Burrington Ham massif – to cavers this means there is at least a mile of still undiscovered cave to explore!

You need to find the initials of the chief engineer responsible for this bridge. Translate these initials into the numbers ABC using the keypad of a mobile phone as your cipher; e.g. ABC = 2, DEF = 3, etc..

Stage 2 Walk 30 yards North West to the village horse trough at N51^o 19.801 W002^o 44.246 to get away off the main road. This trough which was built on the roadside by the W H Wills family (of tobacco fame) when having altered the mill pond animals could no longer access it to drink. From this vantage point you need to determine how many stained glass windows there are on the South West aspect of the chapel = DE. Formerly a Baptist Chapel this building is now a Masonic Hall.

Stage 3 Go now to N51^o 19.824 W002^o 44.296 to find a cast iron water pump which was used to fill the tanks of the steam tractors, engines and Sentinel steam lorries that were used on the estate and surrounding farms. You need to discover how many spokes the pump wheel has = F. Opposite the pump is the Gauge House which was built in 1895 to regulate the water flow and pump water to the nearby Blagdon lake.

Stage 4 A short walk downstream will take you to the Plume of Feathers N51^o 19.859 W002^o 44.296. Here you need to total the digits in the name of the city from whence their burglar alarm company hails = G

Stage 5 Now go to N51^o 19.905 W002^o 44.318 and find the year that the notice board was erected then note down the prominent digit = H.

Stage 6 Your route continues North East past the mill building to N51^o 19.959 W002^o 44.360. There were 2 mills in this hamlet and records show one to have existed at the time of the Doomsday Book. You will also pass the second of two 2 cast-iron standpipes installed to in the reign of Victoria to provide a water supply to the hamlet. On arrival at stage 6 you need to find out how many characters there are in the place name that is quarter of a mile away = J

The Cache a 1 Ltr cache box is at the following location

• Click here to see the topography of the area in FlashEarth.com.
  
• To see a 1:50K Ordnance Survey map showing the parking location and additional waypoints, copy the coordiates (below) and paste them into this website