The lat\long in the title is for the middle of the park and not for any of the clues or the cache. For car park details, see the waypoints table below.
This is a circular route (if you do the waypoints in order), just short of 2.5km (~1.5miles) from the car park suggested below. You'll probably want to allow a good hour for this cache. There are footpaths around the walk, which range from tarmac, to gravel, to mud and to worn grasslands. Older children should be ok with this walk, it's probably a bit long for those younger ones, although you could just about navigate a pushchair around if determined (it may need to be the off road variety as some areas the undergrowth makes the path rather narrow and it's also muddy). I however like to bike round.
Note: If you don't do the waypoints in order, you may have difficulty crossing the ironstone railway line which divides the park in half.
I can see my house in this image, but I'm not saying which one.
So, what History and Mystery does Hunsbury Hill have to hide? The main features of which I am aware are as follows:
- The Iron Age Hill Fort which is surrounded by a large circular ditch. This is obvious in the aerial photo as a large circle of trees. It's history goes back some 2500years. The early defences were apparently built between the 7th and 4th centuries BC. Unfortunately the Ironstone mined from the area in the 1800s has destroyed many features.
- The Ironstone Railway which is 1½ miles long and snakes across the parkland and still runs to this day (on special occasions). This railway was used to take away the raw material when it was mined from the area. It wasn't until the 1920s that the mines were shut down. A number of locomotives have been lovingly restored by the Northampton Ironstone Railway Trust members, and a Museum of a varied railway heritage is also open to the public on certain days.
- Now to the First Mystery: Where is the second railway? Well its the Northampton Mainline which is the second railway and it goes straight under Hunsbury Hill. The only evidence is the air shaft located in the waypoints table below. The image with the route around the park marked on, shows the route along which the tunnel runs under the hill.
- Mystery Two: How does the Nursery Rhyme "Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross" link to Hunsbury Hill? The answer is "Green Lane" (aka Drovers Way) which runs through the park. This is an ancient route for transporting goods through England from The Bristol Channel to the Seven and into the Wash. It saw many robberies over the years as a good location for looters, and in 1787 The Culworth Gang were executed for their misdeeds in Northampton as a crowd of nearly 10,000 watched on. Back to the Nursery Rhyme: Green Lane is an extension to Banbury lane, which is the route along which the "Fine Lady upon a white horse" rode.
- Finally an item of trivia: Mrs Joane Lucas was executed in 1631 on the site for her connection with Witchcraft.
Please see the following links* for further information:
*each link opens in a new tab
With information from one of the above links you should be able to answer the pre walk question: Which year did the site fail to get Ancient Monuments Act protection (use the second number in the year)? Answer=J
Potential Spoiler! An image showing the route around the park.
The Cache is in a clip lock container and when hidden contained the following items:
- Geocaching Bottle Opener
- Slinky
- Yo-Yo
- Bubbles in a Wedding cake
- A ball bearing game
- A Padlock (with key)
- Clackers
- A spinning top
- A CITO (cache in trash out) bag
Final Cache location:
N 52 (B-A)(G-A).HJB
W 0 (F+A)(C-E).EDJ
