St Martins Traditional Cache
Pyg-Wyg: As I live out of area and can no longer maintain this I am archiving it. It has been a very good cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Martin of Tours 316 –397, was a Bishop of Tours whose shrine became a famous stopping-point for pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela. He is a patron saint of soldiers and horses.
At the age of ten, he went to the Christian church against the wishes of his parents and became a candidate for baptism. When he was fifteen, as the son of a veteran officer, he was required to join a cavalry ala himself and it is likely that he joined a heavy cavalry unit.
While Martin was still a soldier he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life. He was at the gates of the city of Amiens with his soldiers when he met a scantily dressed beggar. He impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it with the beggar. That night Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clad me." In another story, when Martin woke his cloak was restored, and the miraculous cloak was preserved among the relic collection of the Merovingian kings of the Franks.
Martin served in the Roman army for another two years until, just before a battle with the Gauls at Worms, Germany, in 336, Martin determined that his faith prohibited him from fighting, saying, "I am a soldier of Christ. I cannot fight." He was charged with cowardice and jailed, but in response to the charge, he volunteered to go unarmed at the front of the troops. His superiors planned to take him up on the offer, but before they could, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and Martin was released from military service.
Martin declared his vocation and made his way to the city of Tours. After confrontations with Christian church leaders, while in Italy, he decided to seek shelter on the island of Isola d'Albenga, in the Ligurian Sea, where he lived the solitary life of a hermit.
Parts of the present church date back to the late 14th Century, The tower was built later, around 1450. In ‘Walks Round Nottingham’ published in 1835 the author notes, ‘there is a commodious singers gallery’ at St Martin’s but sadly during the later restoration work the medieval minstrels gallery was removed and the old box pews were replaced by the open ones which are still in the church today.
In 1590 Sir Edmund Helwys of Broxtowe Hall and his daughter were buried in the church. Their marble tombstone has been moved to the South Chancel wall to make way for the modern extension.
In the early 1950s the population in Bilborough and Strelley increased dramatically as the new council estates were built around the church. As a result the small, single aisled, medieval church was inadequate for the growing congregation but it wasn’t until 1972 that the church was finally extended. The North Chancel wall was demolished and a large modern church with community rooms and kitchen facilities was built onto the medieval building.
The cache box is small, about 11.5cm x 8.5cm x 4cm (4½in x 3in x 1½in), containing a log book & pencil, but having room only for small swaps and TBs or Geocoins.
Ample parking is provided near to the cache site but please do not park inconsiderately or on the grass verges.
This cache has been placed here with kind permission of the vicar and church officials. Please remember that this is consecrated ground and treat it with the utmost respect. No plants or foliage need to be disturbed when seeking this cache and care must be taken not to walk on graves or to touch gravestones.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
: Nygubhtu lbh ner va n pbeare, lbh znl ‘srry’ frira srrg gnyy!
Treasures
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