This cache trail is on paved pathways so is suitable for everyone in all weathers including wheelchairs and buggies only the very last bit of actually retrieving the cache is where you may require help. Please be careful with small children as there are roads and also the cache is near water. I’ve added the coordinates next to the clue but hopefully you shouldn’t really need them to find the clues.
A short historical stroll around part of Witham, much of which is along the high street, with the modern shop fronts masking a wealth of 16th century buildings. Along the way we will be stopping to gather clues on plaques and other things you would walk past and not normally notice.
Free Parking at N 51° 47.921 E 000° 38.621 is available for 3 hours – Which should be more time than needed to do this cache.
Starting at N51°48.168 E0°38.658 - Witham’s ‘come closer’ seat in front of the Police station. This metal bench is really more of a piece of surrealist sculpture than a seat; its lines are all at strange angles, and it dips sharply in the middle, so that two people sitting on it will slide together. The bench was presented to Witham when the town was twinned with Waldbröl in Germany. It is entitled 'Come Closer', I suppose because it brings people together, metaphorically and literally! It is a very bizarre thing.
The "come closer seat" is also a geocaching challange Link Here to Come closer seat challenge CX3ABA
You are now on the old Roman Road from London to Colchester. Roman centurions marched along here nearly 2000 years ago! It has always been an important road carrying travellers and goods between the port of Harwich and London.
Clue 1. (N50°48.154 E0°38.639) The wall is part of what once formed part of The Grove Estate
What number in the alphabet is the letter for the queen whose letter box this is? You only need the first letter. Example F= 6th letter in the alphabet.
Clue 2. (N51°48.125 E0°38.568) The amount of letters required in the name for the animal shown on the monument? Example dog = 3
Clue 3. (N51°48.111 E0°38.558) What century is the house?
Continue towards the town centre, there’s a zebra crossing about 200 meters away next to the library. The Library was originally called White Hall. It has been a family house, a boys’ school and the Whitehall Cinema before it become a library.
Clue 4. (N51°48.068 E0°38.514) What year did John die? 1*75. On the wall of Freebournes you’ll find a plaque. This large white building is called Freebournes. It spans over five centuries but very little of its 15th century origin remains. The central part and two jetted cross wings were largely rebuilt in the 17th century. A Regency style rear extension was built in the 18th century and a new façade added. From 1675, until the late 1960s, it was a working farm eventually with 340 acres of land and barns and outbuildings behind. There were also labourers’ cottages and ornamental gardens. Earlier, in 1659, it had been rented out to a Witham clothier, John Freebourne. He had his own ‘money’ minted with which to pay his employees. These tokens could be spent in local shops. John would then buy them back with real money. This practice was fairly common because of the shortage of small denomination coinage. The building has been let as shops and a food outlet since ceasing to be a farm.
Clue 5. (N51°48.062 E0°38.504) How many letters in the type of animal that is next to Dorothy L Sayers?
Theres a cache set by Harris Trekkers hidden near the statue Dame Dorothy Sayers
Now cross back over at the zebra crossing
Clue 6. (N51°48.035 E0°38.477) When did Dorothy L Sayers die? 19*7. This is a terrace of three cottages, with 18th century brick fronts. They originated in the 15th century but were considerably altered and extended from the 17th century onwards. The writer Dorothy L. Sayers, author of the ‘Lord Peter Wimsey’ detective novels, the radio plays ‘The Man Born to be King’ and a translation of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ lived here from about 1929 to her death. She did all her writing here. Her workroom was on the first floor of no. 24 overlooking the street. In the 1960s the cottages became derelict and were due to be demolished. It was the threat of demolition that led to the formation of the Witham and Countryside Society. A plaque on the wall recording Dorothy L. Sayers residence here was unveiled by the actor Ian Carmichael who played the part of Lord Peter Wimsey in the television adaptation of her books.
Stop at N51°48.015 E0°38.432 in front of the shop to your right is Lockram Lane which was originally an old road but is now a footpath. Lockram is the name of the cloth that was made there by the weavers who lived in the cottages along the lane. This lane used to lead all the way down to the mill on the River Brain, now the Old Mill House. There is an old weatherboarding warehouse seen on the side of picturesque – one of only a few weatherboard buildings left now in Witham.
Stop at N51°47.993 E0°38.423 and look at the pub sign, it is a white hart with a collar and chain, this was the emblem of Richard II (1377-1399) and it is thought that part of the building was built as an inn at about that time. Inside is some original timbering, no later than 15th century. The pub has been much altered and extended in successive centuries and the decorative woodwork on the front is 19th century. For two hundred years it was the highest grade of all Witham’s coaching inns and in the 1840’s Rebecca Cook, a descendant of Captain Cook was the hostess. In 1927 its corner was cut off at an angle when the road to Maldon alongside was widened.
Stop at N51°47.971 E0°38.396 and look at The Spread Eagle, it is substantially a 16th century timber-framed building with many later alterations. The plaque with the date AD1300 was added in the 1920s and probably refers to an earlier building on this site, certainly not the present one. Most of the front decoration and windows are 19th century. Its right-hand gable over a shop front is in the Dutch style and carries an eagle (without wings spread) on top. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the Spread Eagle was a prominent coaching inn and still has its high coach entrance.
Clue 7. (N51°47.959 E0°38.377) In what year was the house built? 175*. This was Witham house, whose gardens are now the town park.
Clue 8. (N51°47.952 E0°38.357) In what year did this building become the town hall? 19*4. This is now Witham Town Hall. Despite its Georgian appearance, the Town Hall is a late 15th century timber-framed building which originally had a jetty along its entire front. Until the 1790s it was part of a coaching inn called The George, before the present George was so called. In the 19th century it was converted to a bank. That is when it was entirely encased in brick and given its Georgian façade and portico and its false upper 3rd storey with dummy windows. also Look at the brickwork: a regular pattern and thin joints have been skilfully faked by filling in the true joints with brick coloured mortar and then chiselling artificial joints which were in-filled in black. The building is now our tourist information centre.
To the right is a Ironmongers shop, who’s own history is over a hundred years old. It was built in the 16th century as a left-hand wing of a hall house. Alterations were carried out in the 18th and 19th centuries when a double shop front was put on, under a still-discernible jetty. The upper storey extends over an open carriageway, now filled in with a shop front. - The part that attaches to the town hall.
Stop at N51°47.927 E0°38.324 A large wooden archway painted red again this was once a former horse and cart entrance.
Clue 9. (N51°47.928 E0°38.327) It was a post office until what year? 18*7. Although appearing to be Georgian this is in fact a 14th century timber-framed building. It was brick re-fronted in the 18th century as a private house. The front was altered again in the 19th century, after the building first became a shop. In 1853 it became Witham Post Office, since then it has been a watchmakers and jewellers under different occupiers. The Venetian window on the top floor is a dummy; could this be an 18th century case of ‘keeping up with Jones’ next door?
Continue along the high street for about 50 meters and you will come to a zebra crossing. Please cross over the road at the zebra crossing
Facing you is large building called Batsford Court again timber-framed, and is of early 16th century. It was built as a courthouse of Battesford Manor to administer early trading in Newland Street. In the 18th century its Georgian brick front was built on, with a false upper storey and a row of dummy windows to enhance its proportions, still to be seen today. This was a ploy often used when an older building was refronted to give it the ‘new Georgian style’.
Clue 10. (N51°47.894 E0°38.282) With your back to the Batsford Court entrance look across the road, to the left at the glass fronted building, look above the charity shop and up to the roof line. You will see the coat of arms of the Pattisson family who lived in the town.
Number of letters in the type of bird (it beings with P)?
Clue 11. (N51°47.865 E0°38.254) When did the watch maker live and work there? 19*0. A former watch maker’s house called Highway Cottage. This cottage has been dated to 1380 and is possibly the oldest building in Newland Street having survived for over 600 years without being ‘Georgianised’ and still retains its wattle and daub walls under a thick plaster rendering. It was originally part of a small timber-framed open hall house with a central hall and two gabled cross wings. In the late 1800s until about 1910 a leather worker had his workshop here and then it was a watchmakers, it was then a private house until a bookshop opened in 1988, and has now returned to a private residence.
Now look across the road this is the Gables, the house with the porch supported on spiral columns, this is another very old timber-framed and plastered building which originally had a jetty along its entire length. The four gables, which give the house its modern name, were added later when the jetty was under-built. Its porch is relatively modern. Notice how it partially obscures one of the upper windows. The building is now part of the doctors’ surgery next door. Fern House, 129 Newland Street, and has been a doctor’s surgery for over 100 years. It is another early timber-framed house with a Georgian front.
Take care please as now you need to cross the road – please return back to the zebra crossing if the traffic is busy.
Clue 12. (N51°47.852 E0°38.235) How many dates are on the side wall of Fern House?
Continue walking passed the doctors with the high street now behind you. We’re now just going to walk to the river walk.Stop at N51°47.809 E0°38.178 This red brick and white fronted building dates from about 1910 and was one of the country’s first purpose-built garages in the early days of the motor car. This was also formally the home of Ginetta Cars which were made here from 1958 until the late 1980s.
Carry on walking across the bridge and just after the bridge on your right your see the river walk path. The best way to the CACHE is to cross the road at the pelican crossing and to walk along the river walk going past the sports center.
Whilst walking along why not try for this cache its on your way - Tree Surgeon #4 by cookie cook
The Cache is at The numbers in the brackets are the clue numbers
N51°(8-6)(10).(8)(9)(2+5)
E0°(1-11+3).(7)(5)(4)
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.
Download all the text for Witham walk here as a pdf file for easy printing out Download Link
Hopefully you've found the cache and now thinking of how to get back to your car. With you back to the river, walk to the mini roundabout, cross over the road and walk straight up Guithavon Street. Note that just by the mini roundabout is the Old Fire station (N51°48.019 E0°38.095) When at the top of Guithavon street you are now back onto the high street, turn left and walk to the Pub then cross the road and walk through the grove center precinct and you’ll come to the car park
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Thanks go to Witham’s local historians whose work I have read and enjoyed, and which was my inspiration to do this cache.