Historic Swansea Multi-Cache
Keturah: Time to archive this series and leave it open for other cachers to make new caches around the city centre :)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Series of virtual caches taking in interesting sites from Swansea's
history, culminating in a final physical cache.
***CACHE MOVED 7/5/11***
Swansea city centre has many historical buildings, many of which
now have more modern uses than their original intent, others are
ore preserved. This cache takes you on a tour from the outskirts of
the city centre to the heart of it, perhaps getting you to look at
some places in a new light! The walk isn't a long on and is all
well paved and suitable for wheelchair users and prams etc. The
final location is likely to be very muggle-y, though, so much
stealth required!!!
If using public transport, either get off by St. Mary's Church and
work backwards or hop off by High Street Station. If coming by car,
there are numerous car parks in town, Council ones are free on
Sundays, St. David's is free for up to 2 hours Monday-Saturday
(parking needs to be validated at one of a dozen stores in town
including Debenhams and Starvin' Jacks), and Parc Tawe is free for
up to 3 hours.
The clues:
High Street Station Opened in 1850 and the present frontage
was built in the period 1934-5 by GWR's own in-house architects in
Portland Stone and Cornish granite. Portland Stone is a dense,
creamy-white limestone from the Upper Jurassic period. When this
rock was young the dinosaurs ruled the earth. You can see what
looks like the fossil of an oyster, seen in cross section, in the
walling to your right as you leave the station.
Clue: Name of the restaurant opposite, where A is the total
number of letters in the name! Answer = A1
King's Arms Tavern A Grade II Listed Building with an early
19th century front built onto the earlier structure. It's
considered likely that Dylan Thomas frequented the pub when
broadcasting for the BBC at their Alexandra Road studios. Alongside
the tavern you can see King's Road where you can see ruts worn into
the stones as if they have taken heavy traffic from wheeled
vehicles, presumably in the Victorian period.
Clue: How many circles appear in the design on the front of
the building? Answer = B
The Unitarian Church Another Grade II Listed Building. It
was originally a Baptist Chapel built in 1698 but was rebuilt in
the mid -1840's. When the site was being excavated in the 19th
century a medieval Flemish paving tile was found.
Clue: What time does the Women's League meet? Answer =
C.15pm
Laserzone /Castle Cinema A Grade II Listed Building which
was built between 1912-14 and designed by the Swansea architects
C.S. Thomas Meager & Jones. By 1914 there were roughly 4.500 of
these early cinemas in Britain of which only a fraction now
survive.
Clue: How many cross shaped arrow slits on the castle? (NOT
Swansea Castle! Look at Laserzone) Answer = D
Swansea Castle The original castle seems to have been a
sub-rectangular/oval enclosure overlooking the River Tawe on the
east, surrounded on the north, west and south sides by a larger
sub-rectangular outer bailey. The inner bailey probably contained a
motte but the other view is that it was a ring work. The new castle
was attacked by the Welsh in 1116 but the inner castle held.
After various other unsuccessful attacks the castle fell in 1217
but was restored to the English in 1220 as part of the settlement
between Llywelyn ap Iorwerth and Henry III of England. Immediately
after this the inner castle was probably walled in stone with at
least one tower.
Later in the 13th century the large outer bailey was also walled.
The only visible remains are two sides of a rectangular "new
castle" built in the South East corner of the outer bailey in the
late 13th/early 14th century. The south face (which ends in a tall
garderobe tower) is capped with an elegant series of arcades at the
wall-head, which are similar to structures at the Bishop of Saint
David's palaces at Lamphey and St David's.
CLUE IS CURRENTLY UNDER A BIG PILE OF EARTH! The castle is
being excavated which is wonderful but the clue is hidden so i'll
tell you that E=9 Clue: How many coins? Answer = 1E
Old Post Office Building (now Idols) Onto Wind street you
can see the Old Post Office Building, now Idols. Built between 1898
- 1901 by an architect commissioned by the Post Office called W.T.
Oldrieve, it is a Grade II Listed Building.
Clue: In what year did the building receive the Lord Mayor's
design award? Answer = 199F
Salubrious Passage Opposite Idols and next to Coggers you
can see the entrance to Salubrious Passage which is a surviving
fragment of a late 18th or early 19th century 'court', a lane
providing pedestrian access to an internal courtyard surrounded by
buildings and was referred to as Paradise Passage in The Followers,
Dylan’s late and only ghost story. Walk through the passage
to see the back of the No Sign Bar, the cellars of which have been
used to store wine and spirits since the 1400s.
Clue: When was the No Sign wine bar established? Answer =
1G90
The Cross Keys Public House The Cross Keys is a Grade II
Listed Building that has its origins in the 14th century making it
(along with the Castle) the second of Swansea's two surviving
medieval buildings. Although it was much altered in the 17th and
20th centuries, some 14th century windows can still be seen near
the main entrance.
Clue: How many rays around the sun on the sign? Answer =
H
The cache is a short walk away (although you could drive to it and
park quite close) at:
N 51° 3C.(B-3)AA W 003° 5G.(C-D)(F-H)(E-E)
PLEASE BE STEALTHY!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Abg tebhaq yriry. Oruvaq fgbarf.
Treasures
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