Update: The wife won! Husband was lost in wilderness but got home eventually, Kids staying out late as always... nothing new here then!
This cache starts off in the village of Toddington, in the county of Bedfordshire,England. Steeped in history, we encourage you to take a stroll around the village, walk on the oldest road in Britain, maybe sample one of the many hostelries (getting fewer as the years progress), visit the 800 year old church and take a look at many of the old buildings around. Over a 2 mile walk, you can enjoy the hustle and bustle of village life or the peace and quiet of a Sunday afternoon, perhaps a village fete or open gardens in the summer or even the scarecrow festival in the Autumn. Please be careful walking along the small lanes and roads of the village.
Parking can be found central to the village or at the village hall car park located at N 51 56.956 W 000 32.104
In order to find the cache, you will need to answer the following clues and identify the numbers corresponding to the letters.
N 51 5A.BCD W 000 EF.GHX
Take a stroll to N 51 56.956 W 000 31.957 to find: E D = 194E – 196D
The area was once used for the Thursday market by charter of Henry III in 1218, and continued until its demise in 1799 when the Market house was pulled down. It was also the site of five annual travelling fairs well into the 20th century and just a short distance away you can see the old town water pump, which was used up until piped water arrived in the mid 1940’s. There are a large number of former public houses around this area which stems from its market origins and later from its history as a traveller’s stop for horse and coaches heading North from London. Whilst several remain, some with over 400 years of history, there are many more that have fallen by the wayside and at its peak Toddington village boasted 15! Looking around, many of the buildings hide their history for example, part of Sundial house dates from the 12th Century and many others are identifiable on a map from 1581, that can be seen on the wall of the Toddington Library across the Green
The next clue has faded over time so I have left it in if you wish to take the stroll and view what was the far end of the village in 1864. As you walk down to : N 51 56.700 W 000 32.021
X: What year did Hope come to Toddington? 18X4 Where X = 6; there is a white plaque on the cottage front opposite with the date 1864
Saxon chronicles show that the village name existed in Saxon times as “Tudings Dun” which means “The hill or farm occupied by the family of Tuda”. By 1084 the village is recorded in the Doomsday survey as “Todingdone” with 400 souls. By 1581 the village name had changed to “Tuddington” and the High Street extended as far south as the the Luton Rd junction. It was shown in the 1801 census that in over 700 years the village had barely doubled its population to 800. This changed rapidly and by 1901 there were 1962 residents (and 15 inns?!). The village was extended along the main roads to accommodate this growth. Finally in the 1930’s houses along the High Street were demolished to allow access to start building behind, which can be seen as you cross Grange Road.
Heading to: N 51 56.838 W 000 31.981
G: What time on a Monday were Victorian letters collected? G:00
Heading back into the village centre you will see Workhouse Lane, dating from 1821 when the village workhouse was relocated from behind what was the Sow and Pigs public house (now the Dentist) to this new location. The workhouse where the poor who could not support themselves could go to live and work. In 1831 it is recorded to have 8 men, 4 women, 3 girls and 23 boys, fixtures and fittings, 2 plait mills, road tools and bedding; which was effectively 5% of the village population at that time. As you walk back down the High Street and cross Marlborough Place, the unassuming houses on the left hide their former life as one of the main village public houses from the early 1900s “The Hare at Towns End”. A clue is the house name of No 54, “Hare Cottage”. If you look carefully enough you can still see the fixings of the original pub sign.
Take a short walk to the first village car wash! : N 51 56.875 W 000 31.939
A: According to Sir Frederick Mander, How many letter N’s appear here? A
This area was originally for the holding and watering of cattle and horses for the market. As time progressed, it was used for washing carts and swelling the wheel spokes to tighten them. Up until the 1940s it was used to wash the cars in the village and for bathing! Post WWII it was changed to its current configuration as a memorial garden. To the south is the Angel pub which can trace its history back to before 1581 when it was a coaching inn. Now many of the stables have become part of the main building. To the north is Wentworth House which dates back to the Elizabethen era. It was the principal house in a long since gone group of 10 cottages named “Earls Court”, belonging to the Earl of Strafford and his servants. In the 1900’s the house was divided up and the left hand end was used as the Conservative Club. During the Second World War it was all taken over by the Army, and there is a classic photo with many tanks parked outside. After the war it was again sold as a single residential property.
Just a short walk to: N 51 56.937 W 000 31.857 C H: subtract the sum of the miles from the sum of the kms = CH8
Toddington has been a focal point of travellers for over 1000 years and sits astride the ancient Icknield Way path linking to the Peddars Way and the Ridgeway to form a route from Swindon to Hunstanton. The Icknield Way is unique among long distance tracks because it can claim to be "the oldest road in Britain". Extending from Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire to Knettishall Heath in Norfolk. It consists of prehistoric pathways, dotted with archaeological remains, it survives as splendid tracks and green lanes along the chalk "spine" of England. Just north east of here you can see the Toddington Castle, today known as "Conger Hill” or “Witches Hill” to the locals, this was a Motte and Bailey castle, made first of timber and later of stone, that dates from prior to the 13th century, when it was listed as the stronghold of Sir Paulinus Pegure. Local custom has the children listening for witches buried within it on Pancake Day. The site is a scheduled monument classified as a medieval Motte, but sadly only the earthworks remain. A little further down Conger Lane you can see our very own theatre and picture house called TADS Theatre. Tads is a community focused Amateur Dramatics group which has been established for nearly 50 years and has undertaken a wide variety of productions over its long history. The group regularly shows films and puts on between 4 and 6 in house productions a year, including an annual family pantomime. Well worth seeing a performance.
Starting at N 51 56.974 W 000 31.901 take a pleasant walk fully around the church yard to find: F: How many weeks did Thomas Carte live? F3
As you walk up to this point, you will pass the ancient Conger Cottage and Conger Villa, these houses trace their history to before 1581 and in 1621 they were sold for £55. The grass area immediately in front of them was formerly a building known as the Town Kitchen housing 5 ovens and ten families up until 1828. Behind Conger Villa was the Hospital of St John the Baptist founded in 1443 and lasting until 1645. The Church of St George of England, was consecrated on St George's Day in 1222, the same year that St George became the Patron Saint of England. It is probable that a Saxon church stood on the site of the present day church, much of which was built by the Peyvre family. Their remains, along with the remains of the families of subsequent Lords of the Manor, and Thomas Lord Wentworth, later Earl of Cleveland, a prominent Royalist during the English Civil Wars (d.1667), are buried in tombs located in the south and north transepts of the church. The church is built of Totternhoe stone, dug from the same quarries which supplied stone for building parts of Westminster Abbey. The central tower is impressive at 90 feet high and houses a ring of eight bells. As you look around the churchyard you can see the old Town Hall in front of the green. This was later the Cuckoo pub, but currently empty. Formerly attached to the Town Hall was the new Fire station built in 1832 and manned by a volunteer reserve from the village, a system still operated in Toddington today. The crew were summoned by a fire bell on the roof of the Town Hall and someone would have to find the key to the building before they could ring the bell. Often the Pump was on its way before the bell had been rung! Also, the fire tender didn’t have a dedicated horse, so they used the Coalman’s horse or if he was out, they ran round to Griffin Farm to ask if they could borrow theirs.! Incredibly, this system lasted 100 years before being modernised! Thomas Carte died 1853 and buried in Toddington churchyard, was the son of Thomas Carte a Toddington grocer. He was a successful businessman by the age of 26 and was listed in the 1847 Post Office Directory. In February 1856 Thomas decided to sell his business and move away. He employed the Ampthill auctioneers, Messrs Thomas & George Greene to deal with the sale of his stock and premises in Church Road. The list they compiled has been found in the Swaffield archive and shows how diverse his business was. The handwritten booklet lists a range of products from silks and satins, stockings and braces to bottled anchovies and milk of magnesia. There was a range of ammunition, household goods, and clothing and footwear. He catered for both rich and poor, selling doe skin gloves and velveteen coats, worsted shirts and pattens and clogs. The total value of the goods listed in the inventory was £1546.18s.3d. A veritable fortune at that time. Sadly 2 years later he too died at the age of 36 leaving less than £800 to his heirs.
The penultimate leg: N 51 57.089 W 000 32.064 B: How many whole miles to the next village? B
Before you carefully cross the main road and start heading on, you will see on your right the Griffin Inn, taken from the armorial bearings of the Earl of Strafford, rebuilt in 1904 after the original building burned down. Across the road is the timber framed house which is over 400 years old formerly the Red Lion Inn, you can still see the old coach entrance doors. To the left is the old Sow and Pigs (now the Dentist) with a history of over 300 years and the Bell which draws its name from several generations of Bell makers who lived there in the 14th & 15th Centuries. In 1925 the graveyard wall was moved back 11 feet to allow the widening of the road to accept two-way traffic. As you walk on, look out for the giant spider on the roof!
Now you have all the answers to find the cache location, but just to check your answer.. you should only be approx 250 meters from the cache. Be careful walking down the country lane.
N 51 5A.BCD W 000 EF.GHX
We hope you enjoy Toddington as much as we do.