Who Was Here 19: Father's Day
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(small)
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This is another in a series of caches that link some of the fantastical places from the “Doctor Who” series with the fantastic reality of Wales. This cache, in a plastic container, is in the churchyard of St Paul's Church. If you find the front gate locked, the side gate is normally open. Street parking can usually be found nearby. This cache meets the GAGB Urban Placement Guidelines.
This is one of a series of caches based on locations used for filming Doctor Who, be the filming the latest series or any of the earlier ones. If you're near such a location and want to add to the series, just let Pezzini know so she can keep the numbers without duplicates and please keep to the naming convention of starting the series with "Who Was Here: ". Thanks.
St Paul's Church in Grangetown, Cardiff, was built in 1889, in the geometrical decorated style, with unique decorative dressings and banding of pink sandstone and an early form of reconstituted stone made from Portland cement with pink pebble aggregate. It was built on an acre of land given five years earlier by Lord Windsor, who also donated £4,000 to build the church's 75ft-long knave. The building was aimed at accommodating a congregation of 600. The church is grade II listed. If you really take a liking to it, note that it is currently on the market.
Until the mid 19C, Grangetown was an area of marshy land used for farming. Grange Farm, which still exists though now surrounded by streets of terraced brick houses, is believed to date back to the thirteenth century, when it was recorded as being owned by Margam Abbey. Grangetown developed after 1850, the year Penarth Road and the bridges over the River Taff and River Ely were constructed, and became a suburb of Cardiff in 1875.
Just around the corner from the church, in Bromsgrove Street, is the last remaining Clark's Pie shop, now being run by the fourth generation of the family. The exact recipe of the pie filling is a closely guarded secret and, unusually for a pie, the pastry is thick enough not to require a foil tray. Knives and forks are not required; the pastry is thick enough to pick up and eat in the upright position without crumbling or getting soggy. But, be warned, microwaving the pie will negate these qualities, turning the pie to jelly.
Perhaps the church's main claim to fame is that it was used, in 2005, as a location for an episode of Dr Who, “Father's Day”, where winged reapers were the enemy. Less well known is the sequel to this two years later, when the church held a Doctor Who-themed communion service. The "cafe-style" service for people in their teens and early 20s, featured music and clips from the hit show. At this time, Fr Atkins, youth officer with the Diocese of Llandaff, said that, as a saver of the world, Doctor Who was almost “a Messiah figure”. He expanded on this theme with “In the series there are lots of references to salvation and the doctor being almost immortal. We are using the figure of Doctor Who as a parable of Christ - a kind of cosmic figure as well if you like, somebody who does not travel through time but all eternity is found in him. He is a kind of encapsulation of the beginning and the end, in fact he existed before time began and he will exist when time ends."
But were the reapers grim?
We are pleased to record our thanks to the vicar and churchwardens for their help and approval to setting this cache.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Unatvat pbhyq znxr lbh pbafcvphbhf, fb jngpu bhg sbe erncref