Kit KACHE 1 Traditional Cache
nickymon: I have now archived this cache as I can no longer maintain it
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This series of caches is designed to take you on a walk of approx 2 miles around Kit Hill and up to the summit where you can enjoy stunning views out over the Devon and Cornwall countryside. The hill is popular with dog walkers and tourists alike so some stealth may be required at times when retrieving the caches. Note that number 6 is a bit trickier and please note that there are no facilities at all, including toilets, on Kit Hill.
Formally owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, Kit Hill was given to Cornwall County Council on behalf of the people of Cornwall in 1985 to celebrate the birth of Prince William.
Located between Dartmoor and Bodmin Moor this wild, rugged granite hilltop is famous for its fine views and facinating history as well as its flora and fauna. Kit Hill is a 400 acre Country Park which is at the highest point in the Tamar Valley Area of Outstanding Beauty and provides some of the most impressive views in Cornwall. On a clear day you can look South as far as Eddistone Lighthouse 37 miles away around to Plymouth Sound, or North West to the satellite dishes beyond Bude on the North Cornwall Coast and to the East are distant Dartmoor tors.
Kit Hill may have had religious significance in prehistoric times. At least 18 burial mounds occur on its slopes including one beneath the summit chimney. Prehistoric people left their mark with a Neolithic long barrow (approx 3000BC) and Bronze Age round barrows (2000-1500BC). In the 9th century the Battle of Hingston Down was fought on the lower slopes when the combined forces of the Cornish and Danes fell to the invading Saxons bringing an end to Cornish independence.
But it is Kit Hills industrial past which has left its greatest mark. The ornate summit chimney stack of South Kit Hill Mine was built in 1858 and is one of the areas most famous landmarks.
The search for minerals dates from at least Medieval times when tin ore was dug dry from small pits, through to the eighteenth century by which time men were going underground through mine shafts and on to the First World War when Wolfran, which is used in making steel, was extracted.
The hill is still used to day by the Old Cornwall Society who have lit a Midsummers Eve bonfire at the summit every year since 1929.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Rnfgrea fvqr bs ebpx
Treasures
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