The following description of the location comes from the
Kilbarrack Parish Website: ‘The ruins of a 13th century
church stand on the site today on the seafront between Clontarf and
Howth. It was later a mariners' Church, where sailors came to give
thanks for a safe voyage and to bury their dead. It may also have
been a haven for shipwrecked sailors.’
The churchyard adjoining is chiefly notable as the burying-place
of Francis Higgins, called from an early incident in his career the
Sham Squire. He was a somewhat unscrupulous adventurer who managed
to obtain a questionable political prominence in Dublin in the last
troubled years of the eighteenth century. Another resident of the
graveyard is Gaelic League and Irish Volunteers founder Eoin
MacNeill.
The location is mentioned by Brendan Behan in Borstal Boy
‘So many belonging to me lay buried in Kilbarrack, the
healthiest graveyard in Ireland, they said, because it is so close
to the sea...’
The Topographical Dictionary of Ireland from 1837 describes it
as ‘unfenced and overgrown with weeds’ a description
that is still somewhat accurate today. The church is noted in some
records as the Chapel of Mone.
The cache is a small size lock and lock container located away
from the graveyard at stage 2. Be aware that getting to stage 2
involves crossing a very busy road so use the pedestrian crossings
if accompanied by small children. It is in a highly muggled area so
please take great care retrieving and replacing the cache.
Bus routes along the coast road are the 31, 31b, 32a and 32/b.
The cache is about a 15 minute walk from Bayside dart station.
Stage 1: N 53 23.243 W 006 08.001 Look for
Rosetta’s gravestone. Call her date of birth ABCD and her
date of death EFGH.
Use the letters you worked out above in following equation to
calculate the final co-ordinates:
N 53 ((B*C)+D).(A+E)((B+D+H)*(A+G)) W 06 0D.F0E
Final Stage: At stage 2 look for a sign written
at your feet. The number of letters in the second word will give
you the number of steps down you need to go to find the cache.