Church Micro 2867 ... Kingston
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This is church micro set in the lovely Dorset village of Kingston, which is situated 2 miles south of Corfe castle and 5 miles west of Swanage. The church of St. James sits proudly above the village, and at 500 feet above sea level, it is one of the highest churches in the county, which allows for some fantastic views across the lovely Purbeck hills.
In 1874 the present parish church was commenced by the third Earl, and was completed in 1880. It did not immediately replace the existing church, and for over forty years it was, in effect, the private chapel of the Eldon family. In April 1921 Lord Eldon conveyed the church and churchyard to the Church Commissioners, and on October 11th, 1921 they were consecrated by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Jocelyne. On January, 1922 the new church was substituted for the old one under an Instrument of the Church Commissioners.
The architect of this very notable building was George Edmund Street, about whom something should be said. As a young man, he was for five years assistant to Sir George Scott, and as such designed a number of churches, being Honorary Diocesan Architect to the Diocese of Oxford at the age of twenty-six.
For thirty years and more he was one of the leading church architects of his day, gaining the gold medal of the R.I.B.A., and becoming Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy. He was an enthusiast for the Gothic style, as exemplified in his design for the Law Courts in the Strand. The Dictionary of National Biography says of him – “. . . one of Street’s favourite designs was that of Kingston church, Dorset: it is a cruciform building, with an apse, central tower and narthex, built throughout of Purbeck stone, with shafts of purbeck marble . . . the mouldings are rich, and owing to the character of the material, the building has a model-like perfection . . .”.
The stone and marble was all quarried and worked on the Encombe estate, and the Itimber was brought from Lord Eldon’s Gloucestershire property. The work of construction was carried out largely by men of the estate, without the aid of contractors.
The tower, which is somewhat disproportionate in size to the rest of the church, was made large enough to contain a full peal of eight bells, which were cast and installed by John Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, in 1880. The bells range in weight from the treble of 6¾ cwt. to the tenor of 26¾ cwt. The peal is in the key of D. The treble and tenor bells were recast when the peal was rehung in 1921. Kingston’s bells are well know for their quality, and teams of ringers have come from far and wide to ring them.
The fine three-manual organ was built by Maley, Young and Oldknow. The pipework is particularly good, some of it being the famous Cavaillé-Col.
The massive appearance of the church and the evidently fine materials used in its construction may well give the visitor the impression that it was built to last forever, with little or no attention. This, unfortunately, is far from being the case: after some eighty or ninety years, a considerable amount of maintenance and repair work has been found to be urgently necessary.
The above co-ordinates will take you to a bench in the grounds of the church, where you will need to find some information that will help you to find the final location of the cache. The cache itself is a short walk away, and not hidden in the grounds of the church.
We have made this cache a bit more of a challenge to find, so please make a note of the terrain and difficulty ratings. For a walk with the easiest terrain to the cache, take the footpath that is signposted across the road from the church, that leads by the Purbeck stone houses. This cache is also not suitable for disabled cachers.
You are looking for a bench that. Is in loving memory of Robert Dorey aged ABC yrs old & his wife Elizabeth aged DE, who devoted there lives to this village ( FGGH )
You will find the cache at
N 50. 3(E-A). (D+A) G A
W 002. 0(D-H). (D+F)(D-E)(H+A)
Checksum for all the co-ords given and calculated is 54.
“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”
Congratulations llssgray for FTF!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
ZGG ba EUF nf lbh jnyx qbja gur sbbgcngu.