| Logging Etiquette: Geocache hiders sometimes go through a great deal of planning to place their caches. As a result, they'd like to hear your feedback on whether you liked or disliked any aspect of the hide, the journey or location, or if you feel that some cache maintenance is required. Single word, acronym, or "copy and paste" logs may be easier when you have a lot of caches to log, but it doesn't tell the hider or other finders anything about your adventure (or lack thereof) in finding the cache. So dont just stick in "easy find TFTC" on every log. Please keep this in mind when entering your log.
Travelbug Etiquette: Cachers pay good money for TravelBugs and Geocoins. Please if you take a TB or GC from a cache will you ensure it is correctly logged in and out, also If you take one that still shows somewhere else please be patient before “grabbing” the item, it does not get its mileage by being grabbed and the last person to place may not have had time to log a previous find or the one you took it from. This is particularly important on busy and new caches. If you have an issue with a bug please e-mail the owner through their profile and advise them of the issue. They will be pleased to hear from you.
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This chapel, just outside Corsham, is one of the oldest independent chapels in England and dates from 1662 in the reign of Charles II. It is 31’ x 18’ and has a small gallery on three sides of the interior. It also has a double pulpit. The chapel is two miles from the centre of Corsham by the side of a winding lane called Monkspark Lane. In 1662 the Parliament of King Charles II revised the English Prayer Book and required church ministers to use fixed forms of service and consent to the new Book of Common Prayer (which is still in use in some churches today). About 2000 ministers felt obliged to leave the established Church and many more were ejected from their livings because they would not accept this new ruling on belief and worship. (The Actof Uniformity) In the same year the Five Mile Act was also passed by Parliament and this required all ministers to take an oath that they would not at any time seek to alter the government of the church. Those who refused to do so were not allowed to come within five miles of any town or borough. The Quakers built Monks Chapel in 1662 outside the five mile radius of the borough of Chippenham to conform with the Act. At the same time, Benjamin Flower, son of the Vicar of Castle Combe, was ejected from his living in Cardiff, and made Chippenham his centre for preaching. He established independent worship in Corsham as a Presbyterian. In 1689 the Act of Toleration was passed and in 1690 the Independents came to won Monks Chapel. Regular Sunday worship has continued uninterrupted since then and the chapel is now used by the United Reformed Church (formerly Congregationalists,previously Independents & Presbyterians). In the Tythe Deeds of ‘Monkton Cuppel’ it is referred to as being Presbyterian but after 1720, it became an Independent Chapel. In 1818 a Sunday School was started and in 1824 the Revd. Rowland Hill opened the new gallery which can be seen today. In the early days, people gathering for worship spent the day at Monks, bringing their midday meal and heating it at the fireplace, which also served to warm the chapel. The fireplace has now been closed in but the chimney can still be seen. From the high pulpit the preacher had a good view of the surrounding countryside and he could make his way to safety if the chapel was raided by troublemakers or anyone who was trying to arrest him. There are signs that there might have been a secret doorway out of the chapel via the pulpit. This would have been for the Preacher to escape the King’s forces when they looked for him. The law limited groups of people to five (five people together at the chapel often had a meal to give the appearance of being a family to allay suspicion) but larger groups were considered to be a meeting with a speaker, who could legally be arrested. The first preacher (Benjamin Flower) was buried in front of the pulpit under the floor in 1720. Two other people who were related to each other, were also buried under the floor next to Benjamin Flower in 1753. For the 160 years before 1822, the Independents were the only non-conformists in Corsham, until the Baptists opened their chapel that year. The chapel nearly closed its doors to worship in 1989 but was then taken on by Mr Ivor Tilley, so that in 2012 Monks Chapel celebrated its 350th year of continued regular Sunday worship.
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
To view the church micro stats page, please click here