In this series we have taken some of our favourite pictures which may be familiar to you also and set you the challenge if you’re up for it of reproducing them, not as a ‘must do’ to claim a find, just an added interest when looking for the cache. We look forward to looking at your pics which you should simply upload to your log in the normal way.
THEN AND NOW.
We've uploaded an old pic this time, easy in some cases where surprisingly little has changed - not so easy in others where things have changed quite dramatically - buildings have gone or been replaced, tracks have re-routed and been replaced with roads, trees have obscured the view etc......
This beautiful little church is set on the A591 along the Eastern side of Thirlmere
Wythburn Church is the oldest surviving church in the united benefice, dates from 1650, although there was a chapel here in 1554. It is typical of the older Lakeland churches in its simplicity, with the thick stone walls whitewashed, and the stone flags on the floor.
It was rebuilt in 1740 and in 1872 a more modern Chancel and Vestry were added to what had been a straight forward rectangular building, and probably at the same time, the west wall was rebuilt, with a modern window (which portrays St. Cuthbert with the head of St. Oswald), and a bell cot, which houses a single bell.
Humble it is and meek and very low,
And speaks its purpose by a single bell;
But God Himself, and He alone, can know .
If spiry temples please Him half so well.
The interior furnishings, including the Alter, Font and Pulpit all date from the late 19th century.
This parish was formerly the first parish in Cumberland (Dunmail Raise being the boundary between Cumberland and Westmorland), but with the formation of Cumbria in 1974, this is no longer true. It was also in 1856, the first parish in the Diocese of Carlisle on the road over Dunmail raise. At one time it was a flourishing parish with the usual craftsmen of the Dales, and farms and other dwellings scattered around the Lake shore. The creation of Thirlmere as a reservoir towards the end of the 19th century finally necessitated the closure of the churchyard in 1937, and the demolition of most of the houses and depopulation of the area.
The church is now rather like a stranded boat without an ocean to sail on, or a crew. There are only four inhabited houses in the parish, all at Steel End, Services are held monthly in the summer, and a special anniversary service and tea takes place each June to which many people come.
A former vicar of the parish, the Revd, Arthur Haworth, wrote the following notes in 1949.
"The remains of Pinfold Howe, Wythburn Post Office, Low Nag's Head and others, including the "Steading Stone", are under the waters of the Lake. At Deergarth Launchy Gill was the Steading Stone where manorial courts were held, and a local parliament which had "by laws" called the "Pains and Penalties of Wythburn." This included fines for turning out too many sheep on the fell, allowing horses and cattle to stray, or polluting the beck from which Wythburn receives its name. Opposite the church once stood the Nag's Head, and north of this was another inn, the Cherry Tree, the scene of the "merry night" in Wordsworth's Waggoner. Further along the road on the eastern side was the "Rock of Names" containing Wordsworth's and Coleridge's Initials. The remains of the stone on which these were carved were rescued from oblivion by Canon Rawnsley, after having been blown up by the workers creating the new reservoir, and stood by the side of the lake until recently, when they were transferred to Dove Cottage, Grasmere, and reassembled. At the North West end of the Lake stood Armboth House, a palatial mansion belonging to Countess Ossalinsky. It is part of the setting of Sir Hall Cain's novel "The Shadow of Crime"
When you reach the given co-ordinates you will need to gather information and cross bridges as you come to them. It could be a bit of a struggle but if you ensure that you are not drawn in the wrong direction you will emerge victorious. It may at first seem like a pyyrhic victory but if you look further afield you will find that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.