The wood where the cache is hidden has several paths running
through it from Grandstand Road towards the top of the hill. These
can get a little overgrown with nettles and thistles so be
careful!
The cache is about 5m from one of the paths but you will have to
branch off at some point and head into the undergrowth.
The container is in plain sight if approached from the right
direction.
Apparently the area towards the top of the hill is used by
youths for evening drinking so don’t be alarmed if
you’re here after dark and there are people close by!
The Town Moor is a large area of common land in Newcastle upon
Tyne. It covers an area of around 400ha and is larger than Hyde
Park and Hampstead Heath combined, stretching from the city centre
and Spital Tongues in the south out to Cowgate/Kenton Bar to the
west, Gosforth to the north and Jesmond to the east.
At the south-eastern corner lies the Exhibition Park but the rest
of the Town Moor is not laid out as a park and is mostly
treeless.
Freemen of the city have the right to graze cattle on the moors and
the rental income is distributed through the Town Moor Money
Charity. This right to graze originated before the Norman
Conquest.
The Freemen have dual control of the moor with the city council and
they help ensure that this prime development land so close to the
city centre is not built on. The Town Moor Act 1988 protects the
rights of the Freemen and in part it states that the public of
Newcastle should have the right of "air and exercise" on the
Moor.
The Hoppings, said to be Europe's largest travelling fun fair, is
held on the Town Moor during the last week in June.
The Moor has had a varied past:-
• coal was mined there for many years,
• at one stage it was wooded all over and the timber was used
for ship and house building,
• it was a gallows site and there are several recorded
hangings - including 16 suspected witches in 1650 and a postman in
1776 for stealing an envelope containing two £50 notes. The last
execution there was in 1844,
• it was the site of a racecourse, from where Grandstand Road
gets it's name,
• the small wood down the hill is on the site of a smallpox
and isolation hospital which existed from the 1870s until just
after WWII.
• The moor supports a strong population of skylarks, a bird
which is reported as struggling to maintain numbers nationally, and
until recently there were a number of partridges living there.
Thanks to the Town Moor Superintendent for a tour of the area
and some of the background information
This is the first cache that I’ve placed so please let me
know if there are any problems or if you think the
difficulty/terrain is wrong (I put them at what the rating system
suggested). After reconsidering, I've dropped the difficulty a bit
and made the clue a little less obvious. Hope this is OK