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Elm Gill Crag Millstone Quarry Traditional Cache

Hidden : 5/2/2011
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
4 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Round clip top box, log book, pen & pencil, swaps and geocoin.
Ground very rocky, so mind your footing.

No need to search in or immediately around shelter. (see hint)

Elm Gill Crag Millstone Quarry.
The upper crags of Mallerstang edge at Hangingstone Scar are formed by a band of millstone grit; an ancient landslide created an area of boulder strewn debris below the cliffs called Elm Gill Crag.

The remnants of a millstone quarry site can be found among the boulders. If you search the boulder field between 427m and 506m above sea level you can find at least 15 roughed-out millstones between 1.10m and 1.55m in diameter and 20 to 25cm thick.

The rough-outs seem to be clustered in several discreet working sites; each associated with small dry stone shelters built against larger boulders. Presumably these offered some shelter to the stone masons who worked on this exposed mountainside.

A roughly rectangular slab of stone has also been found in the area scarred by a series of indentations where there has been an attempt to split it in two; it would have created 2 more millstone blanks.

The millstones appear to have been roughed out in-situ and although there are no obvious tracks from the site, once complete they must have been rolled downhill to the highway below.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ybbx sbe furygre ntnvafg ynetr obhyqre, frnepu fj raq bs obhyqre.

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)