St Pancras Church, Kingston
This short multi can be done in under 30 minutes but you may wish to spend a little longer exploring this wonderful ancient church and grounds. The cache, a camo-taped 35mm film canister, is hidden nearby.
You will need to collect some information in the graveyard and inside the church, which is open around 0900 daily and closed by dusk.
Limited roadside parking may be available near the church but please park carefully and considerately. Otherwise, use the pub car park at the start of The Street.
To Find The Cache:
Step 1: at the published coordinates, you will be by the Dudeney memorial bench in the front corner of the graveyard. Mary's maiden name has A letters in it.
Step 2: walk across to N 50 51.362 W 0 1.459 under the shade of a large tree where, partly covered by vegetation, you will find the horizontal Slater gravestone. The alphanumeric value (A=1 B=2 C=3 etc) of the last letter on this at the bottom right = B
Step 3: now head up the graveyard to N 50 51.369 W 0 1.459 on a small grassy mound under the shade of another tree, the location of a large chained grave with a large Celtic cross - resting place of 3 members of the Stacey family. The chains are supported by vertical metal poles each topped by a ball with C pyramid-shaped points.
Step 4: move on to the wooden church entry porch, where once under it and looking up, you will see that D horizontal beams support the roof.
Step 5: Now go inside the church where you will see numerous features of interest and find lots of background information on these. As you head up the central nave towards the choir, chancel, altar and back, you will be looking for the following six . . .
a) midway up the left (north side) there is a brass wall plaque commemorating the E men of Kingston parish who died in the two World Wars.
b) continue to the lovely old organ where, at the base of the large rearview mirror to the right of the keyboards, a small brass plate commemorates the organist who played here from 1976 to 198F.
c) now head up to the chancel/altar area - as usual at the east end of the church so that the rising sun shines through the main stained glass windows - and look at the beautiful floor tiles. You will note that there are two main patterns, but both feature white 'stars' with G points.
d) on the south wall to the right of the chancel is a large window with 6 colourful stained glass roundels - decorative round glass inserts - each with numerous interesting elements - highlighted in the information sheet below the window. Looking at the bottom left roundel, you will see that H kings (looking rather more like queens!) are depicted above an ox.
e) on the south wall opposite the organ in the choir part of the church, is a lovely long narrow stained window in memory of an artist. There are many interesting elements to spot in the window as highlighted in an explanatory leaflet. Sitting on the fence between the badger and the hare is an instantly recogisable bird with J letters in its name.
f) moving further back along the south wall, near the lectern you will find another shiny brass plaque commemorating the restoration of the church in AD 187K
The cache is hidden at:
N 50 51.(E-B)(C+H)(A-K) W 0 01.(D-J)G(F-4)
The Church:
St Pancras is the parish church of Kingston-near-Lewes and part of the United Benefice of Iford, Rodmell and Southease. It was built in the C13 and was designated as Grade II listed on 20 August 1965. Parish registers began in 1654.
It is made of stone and flint rubble and comprises a nave, chancel, western tower, and south porch. It was damaged by lightning in 1865, and again in 1874.
Inside the church, the communion table is Elizabethan and the chest at the west end of the nave is Jacobean. There are three ancient bells dating from c1350 in the tower, one of them made by Walter Wimbis. It also contains a memorial window to anti-apartheid activist and clergyman Michael Scott.
Just inside the church main door is a font - an old moulded bowl on a plain column and square base believed to be from approx. C14.
The gate leading to the church grounds is a fairly rare type called a Tapsel Gate - a wooden gate on a central pivot which can turn 90 degrees before coming to a stop. There are only a few of these around now - all found within 10 miles of Lewes. It is thought they were styled this way to help carry the coffins into the churchyard more easily.
For more comprehensive information on the church, see images of an info leaflet (available in the church) in the Gallery.
If you would like to place your own Church Micro cache and expand this series by sadexploration, please read the 'Place your own Church Micro' page here before you contact him at http://churchmicro.co.uk.
See also the Church Micro Statistics page here and Home page here for further information about the series.