Willingale BOGOF
My Grandfather was Rector of nearby
Fyfield during WWII and my mother had told me about the very
unusual churchyard at Willingale when I was young. As churchyards
are a bit of a geocaching cliché I thought that I would place a
cache nearby to enable others to know about it.
The title gives a hint and a look
at the attached photo should give the game away. This is the
churchyard of both St Christopher’s and St Andrew & All Saints
churches. Up until 1929 these two were entirely separate – two
churches, two congregations, two incumbents (priests). St Andrew
& All Saints is unusual in itself being named for both St
Andrew and All Saints. Whilst St Christopher’s is the active
church, both buildings are still consecrated. St Andrew & All
Saints now contains an interesting set of posters giving the
history of the parish – including the background to having two
churches here which my mother refers to these as Willingale Doe and
Willingale Spain. The names go back to Norman times. If things had
worked out differently during the 1970s, you'd be staring at an
airport terminal as Willingale was a candidate for London's third
airport (along with Maplin Sands and Stansted amongst
others).
Have a look at the grotesques on St
Christoper’s and see if you can spot the one gargoyle. Lots of
interesting historical features in both churches – both of which
are open regularly – the ornamental iron work on some of the
internal doors dates from the 12th century.
The
cache
There is a saying that some people
attend church on only three occasions: Hatch, Match and Dispatch.
Well, today you are here for ‘Match’.. You are looking
for
-
Sarah, who died A
December 1845
-
Amy Louisa, who died
1B November 1950
-
John William, who died aged
C4 years old on
2nd February
1963
-
Herbert Charles, who was born
23rd August 19DF
The cache is located at N 51°
44.5CA E 000°
17.8(D+F)B. You can reach
the cache following well marked foot paths and will not need to
cross any roads. Once you’ve found the cache, you can continue on a
loop that will eventually bring you back to the church. I’ve
provided additional waymarks
.