Dartmouth Park # 6 Side Entrance Traditional Cache
dave77st: Archived due to building work
Dartmouth Park # 6 Side Entrance
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Dartmouth Park is an historic park located between West Bromwich town centre and Sandwell Valley. It contains a wide range of floral displays, two lakes, a children’s play area and sweeping views of Sandwell Valley. I would like to thank the staff at Sandwell Valley Management Countryside Team for allowing me to hide this cache.
History of the park. A local benefactor of the town called Reuben Farley, served three terms as Mayor of West Bromwich and wanted to improve the conditions of the "man in the street" with the provision of a park. He contacted the Earl of Dartmouth, who had previously offered some land: “The want of a public park at West Bromwich has long been felt and would indeed be a great bon to the hardy sons of toil whose life it is to dwell here.” The Earl suggested two alternative sites, one of 50 acres next to Cooper’s Hill near West Bromwich and the other, of 44 acres, on the Handsworth border. The former was selected because it was close to the town centre. It was acquired by the West Bromwich Improvement Commissioners in August 1876,at the nominal rent of £1 per year on a 99 year lease. The site occupied an area of high ground in the south-western corner of the Sandwell Valley, with a commanding view over the River Tame Valley. West Bromwich lay to the north-west and had undergone recent vast expansion by prosperous Victorian industrialists, who had constructed the ‘Golden Mile’ through the Town Centre along the old Wolverhampton to Birmingham road. The busy road junction at Mayer’s Green offered the most convenient entrance point into the park, allowing easy access for the surrounding populace from Lindon, Mayer’s Green and West Bromwich in the north. A lodge was proposed to house the resident keeper who would control the adjacent park gates and maintain order in the park. The Earl gave permission for the Commissioners to name the new park Dartmouth Park. The design of the park was put out to competition, advertised in the Gardener’s Chronicle at a construction budget of £2,500. After deliberating for two days, the judges chose a design by one John MacClean over the other six entries. The Park Opens The park was opened by the Earl of Dartmouth on June 3rd 1878. Construction far exceeded its original budget of £2,500 with the total cost of £12,623. A general holiday was declared for the procession from the Town Hall to the new park and attendance was so great that the gates had to be shut, keeping out hundreds of people. The cache consists of a magnetic nano therefore cachers will have to provide their own pen or pencil. Access to the cache is possible, even when the park gates are locked. Please be aware this area can have a high volume of muggles especially at evenings and weekends and during school holidays. Use your cacher anti-muggle skills to avoid detection. You can park you car in Dagger Lane where this entrance to the park is situated.
ROLL OF HONOUR :
FTF : Ako
STF : Redhockey18
TTF : g6lpb
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Uvatrf cnegare va gur byq pbzrql qhb.
Treasures
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