Church Micro 2226...Coates -St Mathews Traditional Geocache
Rosie&T: When I checked on this recently I found the area of the hide has become v overgrown and as I've not found someone to adopt it, I am archiving it.
Church Micro 2226...Coates -St Mathews
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(small)
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Time to put St Matthew’s Church at Coates on the map… well the Geocaching map!..
Despite the name you are looking for a small cylinder style container, camouflaged of course with enough room for small swaps or travel bugs. It’s not necessary to enter the church grounds to retrieve this cache, however, the church is well worth a look around and it’s open everyday. Please don’t wear muddy boots inside..
Congratulations on the FTF Carrog
The cache is ideally done in conjunction with others around Coates and fits in nicely with train spotting and the canal series.. Parking is available in several places, but it depends on which part of the Coates area caches you are approaching first.. Best check via OS map ahead of your arrival..
For those cachers that have already done the other Coates caches then this cache lends itself as a cache and dash, there is limited parking up the concrete drive to the rear of the church.. However this is a private access drive that is in use for the farm and church services so please do not leave your car here if you intend walking onto do the canal series.. .. I suggest using the hostelry near the Sapperton canal Tunnel which is worth a visit anyway!
The church Tower at Coates can be seen on the skyline from many advantage points along the local byways however the Church is not the focal point of the village! Instead it’s hidden away behind Church Farm and The Old Rectory and therefore not seen by passing traffic.
St Mathews is an Anglican parish church of Norman foundation with a 13th century nave and 15th Century tower, restored 1861 by John Norton. Inside you'll find the Font is prominently placed and Norman in date, there are some stunning stained glass windows by Lavers, Barraud & Westlake and also by Hardman; Clayton & Bell; and A. L. Wilkinson. Some Tudor woodwork survives in chancel screen with a lectern depicting an angel holding up an impressive Bible and an unusual tile/mosaic reredos from the 19 century, which has recently had some alterations and additions as a memorial.
The church has a rare example of Anthropophagous grotesque on the south-western corner of the church tower. See if you can locate it, due to its height it’s not very easy but this intriguing piece of stone work shows a man eating a small child. !
Despite the majestic looking tower it sadly only boasts 2 bells, which rather tunelessly clang out every Sunday morning, leaving one feeling slightly relieved when they’ve ceased! Apologies, but, having lived in Wotton-Under-Edge I‘ve been spoilt with the wonderful peels that echo out from St Mary’s church.
“If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.
There is also a Church Micro Stats page found via the Bookmark list”
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ynhery fgvyy unf vg.. pbeare va pbapergr.