GC21VF9 Rosehenge (Wellington) (Multi-cache) in North Island, New Zealand created by bkj97

GC21VF9 ▼

A cache by bkj97 Message this owner

Hidden : 12/7/2009

Difficulty:

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Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Why Rosehenge ? A sort of sequel to Woodhenge Raumati ( GC1YYW6). No Stonehenge to be found (yet) and this could well be called Brickhenge because of the brick pergolas but those roses are so beautiful, so Rosehenge it is.

There have been rumours that "Rosehenge " has been the scene of a number of rituals but no evidence of this has been uncovered as yet.
The area surrounded by a circular brick pergola is the centre piece of the Lady Norwood Rose Garden. For many people the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and Begonia House are their first contact with the Wellington Botanic Garden. With their horticultural displays, restaurant, and accessibility they have always been a hit with tourists and the local public. Even during the 1960s and 1970s when the Botanic Garden as a whole was not heavily used, people still flocked to the Rose Garden and Begonia House, especially on Sunday afternoons. The plan for this complex of gardens was most likely the work of the Director, Edward Hutt. It was certainly the largest addition to the Botanic Garden established during his directorship (1947-1965). The scheme was expressive of a forceful new director, and a community moving to reclaim its open spaces, many of which had been appropriated by the military during the Second World War. It was also expressive of an affluent post-war Parks Department, which, compared to the 1920s and 1930s, had money to burn. In 1965, at the end of Hurt's reign, Wellington had the best funded parks department in the country. The Lady Norwood Rose Garden was completed in 1953. The site occupied by the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and Begonia House is the result of themost drastic landscape modification ever inflicted on the Botanic Garden. Originally a valley extended from the bush at the back of the Dell, through the site of Anderson Park and Bowen Street, and included Sydney Street. On the western side the Herb Garden ridge was higher, and ran above the site of Anderson Park, connecting with the ridge in Thorndon on the eastern side of Tinakori Road. Part of this land had belonged to the Weslayan Church, but had been transferred to the Botanic Garden in 1872. The rest was cemetery reserve, unused, and planted by the Botanic Garden board. In the late 1870s the valley was crossed by a high embankment that carried Glenbervie Road, the predecessor of Bowen Street. By the late 1890s and early 1900s, this area along with the Botanic Garden, was being surrounded by new suburban developments. Kelburn to the south, Northland to the West, and infill housing on the town acres along Tinakori Road increased the western residential population enormously. This boom in local population, combined with the development of organised sports, made the long projected Thorndon recreation ground politically achievable. The valley was chosen as the site for what became Anderson Park, one of a flush of sports grounds constructed in Wellington between 1905 and 1910. Building Anderson Park began in 1906 and was completed in 1910. Its construction involved the demolition of part of the western ridge, which was used to fill the valley. The money available for this project did not allow for filling that part of the valley on Botanic Garden land. This remained a gully, used as a rubbish dump by the Botanic Garden until the great depression of the early 1930s. Unemployment resulting from the depression brought a "work for the dole" response from the Forbs/Coats government. This resulted in a number of work relief schemes, the most important of which was scheme five. Under this scheme the Government supplied the money, and local bodies the jobs and tools. Wellington benefited hugely from work done by cheap, subsidised labour. Sports fields multiplied, new roads were built and old ones widened, and much of the Town Belt was planted.

One of these work relief schemes was the Anderson park extension. Between 1931 and 1934 much of the remaining western ridge was demolished and thrown into the gully, providing a site, first for a sports field, then from 1942 a military transit camp, andfinally the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and Begonia House. It is probable that in 1948 Hutt was the person who conceived, and probably drew up the concept of the layout of the rose garden and begonia house, which he then handed over toa surveyor and draughtsman. It took two years from 1946, to remove the military buildings on Anderson Park and the site of the future rose garden and begonia house. This involved negotiations with the Government around whose responsibility it was to meet the costs and do the work of restoring reserves taken by the military during the war. The removal of concrete foundation slabs from Anderson Park and the extension began in November 1947, which probably means that the area was not finally cleared until well into 1948. Judging from the orders for roses in 1951, planting must have begun in 1952. This continued in 1953, with the added urgency that the garden be completed in time for the royal tour that year. In planning the rose garden, Hutt was supported by the Wellington Rose Society. In 1939, Lady Norwood donated 200 pounds to improve the old begonia house that doubled as the main propagating house located at the Botanic Garden nursery. In 1949 she donated a further 300 pounds towards the begonia house projected in Hurt's plan. This seems to be the beginning of the financial support given by the family that ultimately enabled the completion of the project, and allowed for the landscaping of the surroundings. In 1950 the City Council decided that the new rose garden would be named after Lady Norwood, and in 1955 she offered to donate a fountain. This was installed and was operational by November 1956. Lady Norwood's fountain was replaced by the present one in 1977, donated by her children. Hutt's original project for a rose garden and begonia house was completed in 1960 and 1961. The begonia house was built in 1960, stimulated by a donation of 20,000 pounds from Sir Charles Norwood, and it opened on the 22nd of December that year. In 1961 the pergola, the zig zag and brick walls up to the present Herb Garden were built. All in all, even in a climate of post-war affluence, it had taken Hutt 14 years to see his project through.The surroundings of the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and Begonia House were given their final form on the eastern side in the early 1970s. In May 1970 the children of Sir Charles and Lady Norwood gave 50,000 dollars towards this project. Between September 1970 and May 1971, the cut banks on the eastern side were hidden by tons of soil, and the waterfall, summer house, pond, and brick walls were built. The begonia house was completed when the lily house was built in the early 1990s, a project supported by Sir Walter Norwood. From 1969, and through the 1970s, the rose garden was floodlit during the summer, and this was combined with musical and dramatic events. This use in summer was extended especially during the Summer City festivals that were inaugurated in the summer of 1978/1979. Today the Lady Norwood Rose Garden and Begonia house remain the most visited part of the Botanic Garden. They and the surroundings stand as a fitting memorial to Sir Charles and lady Norwood and their family who have for over fifty years supported the Botanic Garden, and this area in particular. This new type of formal garden also used the pillared pergola, and often the formal rose garden was partially, or completely surrounded by such a structure. The pergola defines the boundaries rather than encloses the space.
Abridged from and article by Walter Cook - Historian of the Botanic Garden

The given co-ordinates take you to the fountain in the middle of Rosehenge.
The aerial above may help in locating aspects of the questions to answer as each letter indicates the location of a seat whose plaque will aid you in gaining the answers to your quest.

The cache can be located at South 41 QR.STU East 174 VW.XYZ +/- 5 metres

Q = 1st digit at “B”
R = Number of letters in last word on Marjory’s plaque.
S = 7th digit on Dufty’s plaque
T = Last digit of Harold’s birth year
U = "Traveller and photographer’s" last digit in birth year
V = Number of 9’s in "lover of roses" plaque at “A” plus one
W = 7th digit in 4th line at “P”
X = Number of 5’s on the "lover of things botanical" plaque.
Y = Number of letters in word preceding “all is well.”
Z = 3rd digit of Biddy’s birth year

It will be necessary to bring your own writing implement to sign the log. Please replace as found and be aware that you may be visible from a variety of directions.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Uvag 1 Fvg yrsg raq , yrsg unaq qbja naq onpx Uvag 2 Zntargvp

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)