Skip to content

Soldiers Code - Battle of the Alma Mystery Cache

Difficulty:
3.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works

Related Web Page

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

The Location listed above is not the cache location, Break the code to find the Cache!! Please return Cache as found.. Thanks.

Being an ex welsh soldier living in essex i thought i would give you another puzzle to solve!

Short History of The Alma Pub (formerly Copford Brewery)


The site of the Alma was formerly part of the neighbouring property, now Trellis House but formerly Pages, which retained a right to use the shared well. In 1809, local builder James Cobb came into possession of Trellis House, along with the site of the present Alma. He built a pair of timber and tile cottages on the site – along with another pair in what is now the Alma car park. The Cobbs built a number of similar cottages in Copford and neighbouring villages to let on the rental market. The cottages passed to William Cobb in 1825 and then, at his death in 1854, were put up for auction.
The purchaser was Benjamin Tunbridge, an ‘ale housekeeper and common brewer’ brewer from Birch. Benjamin was actually landlord of the Bell in Easthorpe Street but by a quirk of history the site was a detached part of the parish of Birch.
The pair of boarded cottages remained rented out but Benjamin set about building a brick-built house (the present Alma) in front of them along with brewery buildings to the rear. Copford Brewery opened for business shortly after.
There is no evidence that Benjamin Tunbridge used his new red brick house for the sale of ale. He brewed and supplied for other alehouses in the district. Unfortunately the enterprise was short-lived. Whether he had overstretched his finances or whether illness caused his downfall, Benjamin was soon in financial difficulties which culminated in his bankruptcy. In January 1860, his creditors put the contents of the brewery business up for auction. Items included a ‘capital brewing plant’, 18 sore casks, 250 gallons of mild and strong ale along with his delivery cart and the six-year cob that pulled it.
Soon after this, the premises themselves were assigned to his creditors and also put up for auction. The new brick-built residence had been divided into two lets, the double boarded cottage which still stood behind it was still in two lets with Charles May’s shoemakers workshop to the rear. There were also the outbuildings comprising the brewery and beer cellar, stable, gig house and yard. It was estimated that the house had been built 3 years so was obviously in a good state of repair. Benjamin died, a lunatic, in South Weald Mental Hospital in February, 1863 aged just 50.
The new red brick house was opened as a pub and was known as the Alma from about 1870. In 1872 it was purchased by Thomas Goody who kept other Inns in the area, including the Angel at nearby Heckford Bridge. Thomas Goody retained the Alma until his death, aged 78, in 1898.
From 1898, Thomas’s daughter, Agnes Harriett Goody, then 38, took over the license and carried on at the Alma until her retirement in 1907. She purchased the other pair of cottages beside the Alma which have since been pulled down to form the car park. In 1903, she had married William Nathaniel Mason at Copford Church. At her death in 1938, the Alma was put up for auction along with several other properties that she had owned.

The Battle of the Alma
Sergeant Luke O'Connor of the Royal Welch Fusiliers winning the Victoria Cross at the Alma leading the charge of his regiment with the Queen's Colour which he seized from the hands of Lieutenant Harry Anstruther, shot dead as he entered the Great Russian Battery. Sergeant O'Connor subsequently rose to the rank of Field Marshal, the only soldier to serve in every rank in the British Army.

The Battle of the Alma
20th September 1854 Crimea in the Ukraine
Combatants: British, French and Turkish troops against the Imperial Russian Army.

The Battle of the Alma (20 September 1854), which is usually considered the first battle of the Crimean War (1853–1856), took place just south of the River Alma in the Crimea. An Anglo-French force under General St. Arnaud and Lord Raglan defeated General Menshikov's Russian army, which lost around 6,000 troops. For a brief account of the Battle of The Alma please click here here

Decode this to find the Cache and good Luck!
The Battle of the Alma Code

First to Find is:
PUREWARRIOR69! and he gets and extra Gold star for commitment to caching and for solving it quickly and going out on a dark Minus 3.5 degrees night to get the cache!! and beating the other usual suspects


You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.


Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Vs lbh unir tbg guvf sne lbh jvyy abg arrq n pyhr.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)