The cache is not located in the ruins of the church or close to the church walls.
You can park on Great Bowden Road opposite the church in the marked bays for 2 hours (should be plenty of time). Make sure you only park in a marked bay however since the wardens do check being close to the train station.
As always the whole family like to get involved in geocaching and so creating this has been a family effort with the children helping design the cache, choosing the hiding spot and creating the additional hints.
The Location as the name of the cache suggests St Mary-in-Arden church was so much more many years ago. St Mary’s first appears in written records around 1220 and was the dominant church in the area, more important than St Dionysius which is located in the centre of Market Harborough. As you can see from the headstones around the remains of the church it was originally the main burial ground for the area.
The church grounds currently measures over 2 acres which is the largest in the area and it is possible that the original grounds were twice as big. The old churchyard is thought to have extended across the road and covered ground on the other side.
St Mary’s originally had a tower and spire, presumably of a similar style and scale to St Dionysius' church in Market Harborough. It appears that this was damaged in an earthquake in 1626 and it seems it finally collapsed and been destroyed in a severe storm in about 1658.
So why the “in-Arden” since there is no village of Arden around. The common attributed English form for Arden is fields hence “St Mary’s in the fields”.
When looked at in more detail however it translates more as “The high place”. In today’s environment it does not appear to be high up but if you removed the railway station and current buildings it would have stood out as the prominent feature in the area. It could also be making reference to St Mary’s status as the most important “highest” church in the area.
Just to prove that this Church still holds some status in the area it is worth noting that the road at the bottom of the hill leading into Market Harborough is called St Mary’s Road – I wonder why that is ?