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Wait for it! Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Willow Wisps: We've decided to archive this one after four different attempts to have a successful hide: we've noticed on each of our visits that this is a popular place for youths to hang out and we guess it's too tempting for them - each time we think we've come up with something devious, it hasn't been enough to foil them. Sorry folks.

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Hidden : 4/25/2011
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

35mm film canister. Take care when retrieving and replacing!

Eigth of 13 caches on a figure of eight 7-mile walk centred on Saintbury.

Placed at a point where, in mediaeval times there would have been a sluice gate from the village fishponds. All that is now visible are the earthworks in the field near the church, but once there was an impressive moated manor house belonging to the Bishops of Worcester, and a flight of smaller ponds following the course of the river.

In the early Middle Ages people depended heavily on their farmed fish to sustain them through the long winter. Without refrigeration, and with dwindling food for livestock, all but the breeding stock were slaughtered and salted in barrels: the only source of fresh meat was fish, a precious commodity, especially when, so far from the sea, the mainly Catholic population of the villages needed a supply of fresh fish on Fridays (as the Church dictated). Most of the land in this area was once owned by the great monastery at Hailes Abbey – when it was destroyed by Thomas Cromwell in 1539 and its properties confiscated, many once thriving communities fell into disrepair, eventually to disappear altogether. Locally, it is believed the moated manor house was sacked during the Civil War and the stones removed to build the village of Weston. All that remains are the steep earthworks and hollows and a mention in the early manorial rolls and the Domesday Book of the farming of eels, carp and roach here.

Head towards the Lynches Wood for the next cache, Own Goal.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Urnil!

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)