Water lovely place to be Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

kalaika101: As I can no longer easily get into Canterbury for maintenance, I'm archiving this one and freeing up the site for someone else.

Thanks for all the finds!

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Hidden : 7/24/2012
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is a small magnetic pot containing a log book only. Please bring your own pen. The location has overlooking property and lots of people passing by, so please find and replace the cache carefully!

The cache is close to the river Stour where the medieval Abbot’s Mill once stood. Whilst there is no charge to enter the site it is only open during daylight hours, which vary throughout the year. Winter closing time can be as early as 3:30pm, but is open later in the summer.

This cache has been placed with the kind permission of Canterbury City Council.

On this site once stood Abbot’s mill, a corn mill that was purchased by Abbot Hugh II (Hugh Trottescliffe), the abbot of St Augustine, during King Stephen’s (1092 - 1154) reign. Hugh purchased the mill with his own money for it to be used by his monastery.

At the suppression of the monastery by Henry VIII (1491 - 1547) the mill fell in to the king’s hands and over the years became known as City Mill and Brown’s Mill. In 1792 the site was leased to Joseph Royle and James Simmons whereupon a new mill, designed by the engineer John Smeaton, was built at a cost of around £8,000.

The new mill, which reinstated the old name of Abbot’s mill, was the most impressive of all the mills in Canterbury at the time and was the first mill on this site to be driven by waterwheel. It was a square building with each side being 60 feet (18.29 m) long, and was six storeys tall. The base was brick and the upper five storeys were wood, clad in white painted weatherboarding. At the time it was built, it was the second tallest building in Canterbury, after the Cathedral. The largely cast iron machinery inside was advanced for its period and was driven by two waterwheels of 12 feet (3.66 m) diameter and 6 feet (1.83 m) diameter which turned a total of eight pairs of stones. The mill could grind and dress around 500-700 quarters (14,000-19,600 lb, 6,350-8,890 kg) of corn every week.

In 1896 it was sold to a member of the Denne family, well-known in East Kent milling circles, after which the mill was often referred to as Denne’s Mill. Tragically, the entire mill was destroyed by fire on 17 October 1933.

Today, the site is run by Canterbury City Council but all that remains are the channels in the river where the water wheels once stood and a cast iron axle from the water wheels.

The cache is accessible by wheelchairs and pushchairs from St Radigund’s Street on the north side of the cache. The path over and alongside the river to the south of the cache is a nice walk, but is not accessible to wheelchairs due to bridges and sluice gates.

*******Congratulations to kubalu for the FTF!*******

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fvg ba vg.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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