Rectory Park is a very small park that many of us drive past without batting an eyelid. However, it is steeped in history as a part of the Savile estate.
We encourage you to have a look at some of the old ruins on the island, you can see it just about from this cache, but if you follow the path south into the park you will see a bridge on your left. Go over and just have a quick peak, it’s quite interesting.
Site of a 13th century hall house and a 15th century house, excavated between 1964 and 1972. The later house, built circa 1450, was stone-built and H-shaped in plan. Fragments of stone walling are all that survive above ground. The excavations also revealed a bridge abutment, the remains of a gatehouse, traces of a possible formal garden and a 17th century bowling green.
In August 1648, Lady Anne Savile's troops defended the manor from attack by Parliamentary forces, but they were eventually forced to surrender.
A mysterious gunpowder explosion destroyed most of the hall shortly afterwards, with the remainder of the building consumed by fire.
Today, the site is largely overgrown with only its moat, fireplace, front wall and two statues still visible. Can you find them?
More about the park:
The 18 hole pitch and putt is also very good, it is cheap, with clubs available to hire and can offer a nice couple of hours in the sun while swinging and missing the shot you need to make par.
In this park there is also a care home which now homes some of Thornhill and the surrounding areas most treasured elderly residents. You can see this home by the second cache. As this is the Grandkids cache trail I should mention that the tree by cache too is where my daughter Katie fell and broke her arm when she was conker picking as a child.
Also available in this park is a local volunteer run football team for all ages. Dainton, to who the second cache is attributed, plays for them. More information on this team can be gained from the 3rd cache, Taylor Taisy #3 where there is a noticeboard.
There is a children’s play area at the top of the park, from here you can see an outdoor gym. We encourage you to come and give it a go.
This trail has been designed as a quick, very easy, drive by. All of the caches can be picked up within fifty feet of your parked car if you park in the right place. All the caches have their own little parking places. To do it this way it should take around 20 minutes; depending how could your cache’s eye is…
To walk the whole thing, which is best as you can see what this small park has to offer, should take about 40 minutes at a gentle pace. The caches are all child friendly and minimal difficulty. As this is my first set of caches I need to make sure it is done right before I complicate the terrain and arduosness.
Have fun and please let me know what you think.