Disappearing Berkshire #3 - the Hanging Tree Traditional Cache
Disappearing Berkshire #3 - the Hanging Tree
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A cache and dash nano, continuing the Disappearing Berkshire series begun by AmayaTom.
When one of Rainbow’s End was growing up a stone’s throw from here, there was a big old tree on the grassy area near to this cache. We knew that the road had been built around it because the tree was protected, but no more than that – certainly didn’t know that the tree was an elm, hence the name Elm Road, or that the area used to be known as Gallows Common.
Up until 1793, when they were moved within the prison walls, the execution of felons from Reading Gaol took place here on Gallows Common. The name stems from the natural gibbet – the elm tree. The Reading hangmen would stop at the Oxford Arms in Silver Street for a drink with their victims before they were brought here. The last man hanged here is said to have been most surprised at his demise. He had, for many years, made himself useful to the prison governor as a handyman, and his execution was unofficially postponed ..... until a new governor was appointed and looked back through the records.
The Hanging Elm stood for 300 years until it was taken over by Dutch Elm Disease in the 1970s. The Road still curves around its site.
(Source: David Nash Ford – Royal Berkshire History)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Oruvaq gur puriebaf
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