Knights and a Lady at St Mary's Traditional Cache
Knights and a Lady at St Mary's
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A small round clip top container, placed on a public footpath (the Millennium Way) at Temple Balsall. The cache is close to the road so please be careful of passing traffic.
A brief history of Temple Balsall
In the reign of King Stephen, the manor of Balsall was granted to the Knights Templars who built the church.
In 1324, the manor was taken over by the Knights Hospitallers. Their ownership of Temple Balsall came to an end in 1540 and the manor passed to the Crown.
Henry VIII gave the manor to his last wife, Catherine Parr, it was then given to Sir Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester by Elizabeth I. Sir Robert Dudley’s grand-daughter, Lady Katharine Leveson, (widow of Sir Richard Leveson of Trentham) died in 1674 and, by her will, she founded a charity at Temple Balsall. A hospital was built near the church for 20 poor widows of the district and the old ladies wore gowns of grey cloth, with the letters 'K.L.' in blue cloth. A free school for 20 poor boys was also founded and provision was to be made for a minister for the church, who would also be the Master of the Hospital and teacher of the boys. The first alms women and schoolboys arrived at Temple Balsall in 1679.
The church of St Mary was made a parish church in 1863, having previously been part of the parish of Hampton-in-Arden.
Part of the mediaeval hall of the Knights Templars still survives at Temple Balsall today and is cared for by the Foundation of Lady Katharine Leveson. Most of the hall was demolished in 1736, with the building materials being used to construct outbuildings for the new Bailiff's house (Temple House), which was finished in 1740.
The cellar of the Old Hall was excavated in 1981 and proved to contain a great deal of late 17th and early 18th century pottery and glass. Items found during the dig are on display at the Old Hall, Temple Balsall, which is usually open to the public during Heritage Open Days in September. Afternoon teas are also served in the Old Hall on Sundays between 2.30 and 5pm, from Easter Sunday through to the end of September, a tradition originally started in the early 1970’s to raise money to repair the church roof that still continues today, to provide refreshments for anybody visiting, or passing by, Temple Balsall.
The Cache is a 0.24lt round clip top container that has been disguised to blend in with its surroundings a bit better. Cache contains a log book and pencil and a few small swap items. There are a couple of car parks close by which can be used by visitors to Temple Balsall.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
gbc bs vil pbirerq cbfg
Treasures
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