Picture Postcard - Gittisham
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A microcache hidden in a little gem of a Devon village. Though small, and only taking 10 minutes to walk around, it is picturesque and unspolit.
The cache is big enough to take a geocoin.
No pen/pencil, so please bring your own. Please rehide cache well as it has been subject to muggles.
We hope you enjoy this lovely village.
Gittisham, is a pretty village dating back further than the Doomsday book, with some 85 dwellings mostly thatched, many of which are old estate workers cottages and are owned by the Combe Estate. There were 7 farms, an Arabian horse stud farm, one hotel (the old manor house), a forge, a shop and tea room, a studio gallery, a village hall, a residential home, other workshops and a Caravan Club of Great Britain site, though some of these may now have gone by the way.
The Saxons, like the Romans, were not afraid of hard work or wolves, and started to develop the richer, low-lying ground. Their occupation of East Devon was completed about the year 670 AD and at some time between this date and the Norman Conquest, some Saxon, prospecting down the Fosse Way, looking for a likely site at which to settle, must have come to Gittisham, built himself a hut, and started to drain and clear the land. Shortly, no doubt, his friends joined him, and so our village was born.
We shall never know for certain why it was called Gittisham, but the most probable theory advanced is that it comes from three Saxon words, Guidh (wood), Ys (water) and Ham (a place), which would give the meaning ‘the place in the wood by the water’ which is, perhaps not inappropriate. The theory possibly gains some support from the fact that in the first written reference of our village, which occurs in the Domesday Book, it is spelt Gidesham with a ‘D’.
The known history of the church dates back to 1244 although available records show that it was named St Michael's in 1321. The church is built of dressed flint, cement covered, and is in the early English and Perpendicular styles.
The interior is 18th century with box pews, which were installed in 1715, a wagon roof and a collection of hatchments.
****UPDATE****
please cover the cache back up to avoid casual looks from muggles, also may need to practice a slight bit of deception, but as it's very quiet, I don't anticipate any problems.
Wheelchair users can get right up to the site, but may need someone to retrieve the cache for the final 1metre distance.
Why not take in Dead end in Devon - Gittisham, A Bridge 'not' too far, and for the very energetic, Lean on the Gate!
*****Please rehide cache well, use lots of the handy covering material and push well under. Many thanks*****
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Bqq gb frr jung pbhyq or n ohgpuref fyno, zvtug or jbegu vairfgvtngvat.....gel haqrearngu, ohg abg unatvat haqrearngu. Znl unir gb zbir fbzrguvat....orjner vg znl or n yvggyr funec ba gur rqtrf gubhtu