BAR#01 Byways and Railways Roundsphere Traditional Cache
Newmanmadhouseteam: Taken in
BAR#01 Byways and Railways Roundsphere
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You are looking for a 35mm film cannister
Our walk begins in Chiseldon at the bottom of Station road where there is a public car park in Strouds hill. This walk is approximately 7-8 miles long, there are 28 caches of different sizes to find, the walk will take you out of Chiseldon towards Burderop through footpaths, where you will meet up with old ridgeway and then up to the millennium trail then follow the byway down to the old railway which will take you back to Chiseldon . Some of the walk is suitable for strollers and bicycles and please be careful when crossing any roads. We hope you enjoy the walk and the caches of course. Not all the caches have a pencil so please take one with you and please re hide the caches as you would hide your own .Thankyou.
Chiseldon parish is situated at the northern edge of the Marlborough Downs, south of Swindon. The main settlement, Chiseldon village, takes its name from the Saxon ‘Ceosel Dene’ – stony or gravely valley. This refers to the steep-sided combe running north from the centre of the village.The name was first recorded in the 9th century when both Alfred the Great and his father referred to Chiseldon and its church in their wills, requesting that it be given to the monks of the abbey in Winchester. The major part of the parish remained in the ownership of Hyde Abbey until the Dissolution of circa 1538.The Saxon village was built around the head of the combe where springs supplied water, with a mill in the valley below and the church on the hillside above. The church was rebuilt by the Normans circa 1175. Other settlements in the parish are the hamlets of Coate to the north, Burderop and Hodson to the west, Badbury to the east and Draycot to the south.
The parish boundary was outlined in a 10th century saxon charter and has remained virtually unchanged until the 20th century. Traces of earlier inhabitants can be seen in the form of Roman roads and buildings, Iron Age finds, Bronze Age barrows and Neolithic artefacts. Two prehistoric trackways, The Ridgeway and Icknield Way, cross the parish from east to west.
The area was mainly agricultural until the Midland and South West Junction railway (M&SWJR) was constructed through the village in 1881. Many village men found work on the railway or in the railway works - new houses were built in the early 1900s to accommodate commuters working in Swindon. A large military camp was built to the south of the village in 1914 and made a huge impact, the camp population being greater than that of the whole parish. The military presence continued until 1961, the same year as the closure of the railway.
With the arrival of the motorway across the north of the parish in 1971, Chiseldon became part of the M4 corridor, with associated housing expansion. Although now part of the Borough of Swindon, the parish retains much of its rural character.
From the middle of the 19th century various schemes had been proposed for a railway between the industrial Midlands and Southampton but, because of opposition from the Great Western Railway, it did not receive an act of parliament until 1873. It was however strongly backed by the townsfolk of Swindon, Cirencester, Cricklade and Marlborough, especially the latter, as they had lost trade when traffic between London and Bath transferred to the G.W.R.
Work began in 1875 with the construction of the Swindon Marlborough and Andover Railway and Chiseldon station opened in 1881 when the line was opened between Swindon and Marlborough.
Due to difficulties with the G.W.R. at the junction of the two lines the new railway always struggled to make a profit. The line was extended to Andover in 1883 and the link north to the Midlands shortly afterwards and the company was renamed the Midland and South Western Junction Railway. At Cirencester, a railway workshop was built to maintain the engines and rolling stock. The Railway Act of 1921 placed the M&SWJR into the hands of the G.W.R., who closed the Cirencester Works in 1926.
During both World Wars the line was used to move men and equipment quickly to and from the south coast ports of embarkation. Apart from wartime, the line was never profitable and was closed for passengers in 1961 and for goods traffic shortly after.
The route of the line north and south of the village is now incorporated into a National Cycle Path.
Congratulations to 37251 and 8paws4legs on joint FTF
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
zntargvp ba onpx bs ebnq fvta