The Cache is a small camouflaged container placed on the grounds of St. Marks Church in Ramsgate. This has been placed with the kind permission of the Parochial Church Council. The size is based on GeoCaching Guidelines, and has room for a few swappable items. Access is available 24/7 with onsite parking.
If bringing kids, please bear in mind that the Church is located on the corner of 2 busy roads. The grounds are walled/fenced in, but please do keep an eye on them.
It can get very busy in this area during the day, so please be wary of passers by. There is also a bus stop and a set of 4 way traffic lights very close by, so choose your timing well. The difficulty has been set based on daylight hours.
Wheelchair access is possible to get close to the cache, but you may need to bring a geo-friend. It can also get quite muddy getting to the Cache after/during rainfall so please be a little careful. The terrain has been set based on the typical British Winter weather.
When placed, the Cache contained a few swappable items, a logbook, and a FTF certificate, but no pen has been left with the cache. This is also my first time placing a cache, so please let me know any feedback by logs, or by email.
Happy Hunting!
History Of St Mark's Church
Taken from the St Mark's Church website found Here
After six years as the first Vicar of the new parish church of St Luke, the Rev. John Bradford Whiting had a vision that the area of Northwood in Ramsgate would one day become a small town. He thought there should be a church there ready and waiting for that day. However, St Luke's church itself wasn't yet completed and it had relied largely on money from the Whiting family, so there wasn't much in the way of funds for building another church at Northwood. A site was purchased for the new church in 1884, but because of lack of funds a corrugated iron hut was bought in Brighton and transported to the new church site by horse and cart. The Mission Church of St Mark Northwood now became a reality.
The tin hut lasted for fifty-five years, but it had its attendant problems, such as the overwhelming sound of rain on the roof drowning out services. Also the congregation outgrew this small building. Under the guidance of the Vicar of St Luke's, Rev G H Williams, and the curate-in-charge of St Mark's, Rev. T.G. Jones, new plans were made to build a very large church on the site in Pysons Road in the place of the tin hut. The chancel and church hall were erected in 1939 to the designs of Thomas F. Ford and Partners. The original designs incorporated a large Nave with a tower, but due to War breaking out in September 1939, and restrictions on building work then, the Nave and tower were not built. Services continued at St Mark's throughout the War years, and St Mark's received some furnishings from St Mary's Church, Chapel Place, Ramsgate, when it was destroyed by a bomb. The new furnishings to St Mark's were dedicated by the Bishop of Dover in May 1943.
In 1956 the then new Vicar of St Luke's, the Rev. George Hall, decided to take a look at St Mark's Church for his first time. He cycled up the Margate Road and completely missed the church thinking that it was a factory, so he set about the task of making the church look more like a church. It wasn't until 1967, though, that the money was found to finish the building off with a small Nave and semi-tower, which housed the bell. This was a much-scaled down building than that proposed in 1939. The new Nave and converted chancel were designed by the London architect Percy Flaxman, and was dedicated by Archbishop Michael Ramsey on 30th July 1967.
St Mark's continued for another fifteen years as a daughter church of St Luke 's, but in 1982 it became a parish church with a parish made up of parts from St Luke's parish, St Laurence parish and St Peter's parish. The Parish was officially established on March 1st 1982, and on Palm Sunday 4th April, the first Vicar the Rev. Michael Stear was instituted by the Archbishop Robert Runcie.
The church has continued to flourish in the intervening years and now there are plans for further developments to the buildings.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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