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This multi involves an easy stroll around the pretty village of Lealholm, situated in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. Lealholm was first mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Lelun, which comes from the Old English laelum meaning ‘among the twigs’.
Nowadays, the village contains some interesting buildings with a good range of amenities – a lovely bakery, a helpful post office, a well stocked village shop, a great tea room, a busy local pub, a railway station, a pottery/gallery, a garage (sells petrol), public toilets.
The co-ordinates above are for the recommended parking (free to park and has toilets) and not the cache location. Follow the trail and work out the puzzle to get the final cache co-ordinates. Terrain rating is due to some steps and the stepping stones across the river. Let’s go! First you must find:
Part 1 The War Memorial N54°27.507 W000°49.467
The War Memorial has a prominent place in the village. It was unveiled by Colonel, The Hon. John Dawnay, CMG, DSO of Ruston, the eldest son of Viscount Downe on March 3Dst 19A0.
The memorial, in the style of a Celtic cross, is in front of the church of St James the Greater. The Anglican Church was built to the design of Temple Moore and was consecrated by William Dalrymple, the Archbishop of York on 13 October 1902.
Part 2 The Bard of Lealholm N54°27.542 W000°49.558
Poets Cottage, now a popular shrub nursery, was once the family home of John Castillo. In the nineteenth century John worked as a stonemason and in his spare time he composed poems in the local dialect. John was born near Dublin in 1792, the son of an Irishman, Patrick Castellhowe, and a Lealholm girl, Mary Bonas. The marriage of the pair appears in the Danby Church Registers on 21 June 1789. They then made a visit to Ireland where John was born, returning to Lealholm when John was two or three years old – suffering a shipwreck en route!
John had a poor childhood. His father went overseas around 1801 hoping for better employment, but he died not long after leaving. John became the family breadwinner, entering into the trade of a journeyman mason. However, despite John’s employment his mother had to apply for Parish Relief and did so for over 40 years until her death aged 81. John forsook his Roman Catholic faith and was admitted in 1819 to the Danby Methodist Society. His poems often reflect his religious outlook on life:
Auld Isaac
Ah’ve oft been soory te me-sell,
Heath grieved an’ sham’d the truth to tell:
When Ah hev heard our awd kirk bell
Ring in te prayer,
An’ze fiade at sum ‘ll hea’rt e Hell
Upbreaid ‘em there.
They’ll sit or lig upon ther dead,
And toke aboot all kahnds of trade,
An’ laff, and lee, quite undismayed
Till they’d rung in-
Sike fuolks, tit World, they’r awther wed,
Or near akin.
That skull at’s moulded green and gray
T’awd Saxton dug up t’other day,
Knows varra neer as mitch as they
O’t Sunday sarmon;
Yoo mayas well o’t subject toke
Te some awd Jarman.
That poor awd man’s noo dead and gean,
It’s hard te say what way he’s tean
‘At used te stand besahd font stean,
Te tak fuolks’ watches;
Whaal careless lads et singing pew
Was cutting notches.
John’s work as a stonemason can be seen in Great Fryup and Little Fryup. John is buried in the Pickering Wesleyan Chapel Burial Ground.
Turn your back on Poet's Cottage Nursery and cross the road to take a look at The Mill House. It has a date stone with an 'AT' insignia:
187G
Part 3 The Mill House N54°27.546 W000°49.560
Lealholm has a mill of some sort since the 13th century. This present mill was purchased by Andrew Thompson, a miller from Westerdale in 1860. He is reputed to have been quite a character and in 1878 he was charged with assaulting his neighbour, Bridget Dunleavey with a besom (a type of broom)! In 1884 Andrew sued some villagers for catching salmon other than by rod and line at a pool above the bridge. However, Andrew and other villagers were themselves prosecuted on more than one occasion for poaching salmon in the mill race! Around 1874 Andrew rebuilt the house adjoining the mill; this can be seen in the stonework and the inscribed date stone with his initials.
The Esk Valley has always suffered from flooding and this can be seen quite clearly on the commemorative stone on The Mill House which shows the height of recent floods;
‘Flood E Nov 2000’
Part 4 The Shepherds Hall N54°27.533 W000°49.584
No clues to be found here, just a really unusual building to look at. Before the modern era of benefits local people often had their needs looked after by Friendly Societies. Weekly subscriptions were paid into a fund which could be drawn on in times of need, for example for medicines, burial or to help when an old-fashioned credit crunch hit! As this was an agricultural district, the shepherds of the area formed an aid society of their own.
The dedication stone above the door of the Shepherds Hall showed that this hall belonged to the Ancient Shepherds Friendly Society.
Part 5 Lealholm’s oldest place of worship N54°27.478 W000°49.646
The Methodist Chapel is the oldest place of worship, celebrating its 150th anniversary in 1989.
It holds special memories for us, as we were married here in 1996. There are several inscription stones on the walls of the Chapel and a noticeboard out front. You will need to look carefully at all of these to find the relevant information – you will not need to enter the Chapel grounds to retrieve any answers:
‘Wesleyan Chapel erected AD HL39’
‘Flood July 2Brd 1930, Flood July 18J0, Flood Nov 2000’
‘Sunday School 10.30am, Tuesday Guild 7.1I pm’
Part 6 The Society of Friends Burial Ground N54°27.454 W000°49.711
Quakerism came to the area towards the end of the seventeenth century and Friends were licensed to meet in Lealholm from 1689. A Quaker burial ground was given by Thomas Watson of Horse House Farm (the farm opposite the Methodist Chapel). A stone in the wall of the burial ground reads:
‘This enclosure was formerly used as a burial ground by The Society of Friends.’
A stone in the burial ground itself gives the death of Thomas; look carefully at this stone.
‘TW
DECEM 18
172K’
* 26/8/09 A spoiler photo has been added for Part 6 in case the pesky tree is across the stone.
Part 7 Pure water for Lealholm N54°27.489 W000°49.661
You may have noticed on your amble around the village, several unusual drinking fountains. The fountains were given to Lealholm in order to provide fresh drinking water by Francis Ley, of Epperstone Hall in Nottinghamshire. The fountains bear his monogram (an inter-twined F and L, which you may have already noticed on the fronts of several houses in the village) and a date:
‘1F0C’
Before the erection of these fountains there were several common wells in the village. A charming photograph taken at the opening of the drinking fountains shows a large banner behind the crowd proclaiming ‘Pure water for Lealholm’.
Part 8 Stepping stones N54°27.467 W000°49.602
Cross over the stepping stones (take great care with children here) – Mrs Reddanbydan was made by her wedding photographer to clamber across to the middle of the River Esk, via the stepping stones, whilst wearing a full flouncy wedding dress. Luckily, but less hilariously, she didn’t fall in. (If the river is in flood, or is coming over the stones even just a tiny bit – DO NOT CROSS. If this is the case, retrace your steps back into the centre of Lealholm.)
When you reach the road, take a left and head back towards the village centre. You will see the quoits pitches on the right (Mr Reddanbydan plays for another, rival team) and the Board Inn, good pints, good food and all in a building dating back to 1742 coming up on your left. As you cross the bridge, see if you can spot some old barely legible graffiti carved near the centre of the western parapet, which reads ‘G Roberts Drowned 1861’.
Part 9 The Prize N 54°A(C+B).I(E+H)D W000°GF.JKL
The cache is a small lock & lock container which is able to hold geocoins and small tradeable items. Make sure you hide the cache well when you're putting it back. Thank you.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab arrq gb tb ‘bss-cvfgr’, hfr gur fgrcf gb trg lbh pybfr gb gur uvqrl cynpr.