A quick cache and dash with good parking very close.
This cache contains a log only, so please bring a pen.
The cache is purposely audacious and a little cheeky and is placed so that it should not be seen unless you are really looking for it!! For this reason, please replace the cache EXACTLY where you found it - it has already been muggled more than once. The area is very popular for those that know it is there, so please be sneaky if people are around.
The Parish of Batheaston is bounded on the South side mainly by the River Avon, the West side by the A46 Gloucester Road, and the East side by Morris Lane and the Bannerdown Road. It encompasses Little Solsbury Hill to the West, much of Charmydown, to the North, and Bannerdown to the East. It has been suggested that some or all of these hills should be included in the count that gives Bath its seven hills, like those of Rome. St Catherine’s Brook, which drains down to the River Avon, runs down the centre. The main London Road crosses that stream at Stambridge (Stone Bridge); that area is now known as the Fiveways junction and evidence of the bridge has been lost under the modern tarmacing. The lower levels of the brook are in the flood plain, and the river regularly covers the lower reaches of the car park and the footpath alongside the river. The area has been occupied since at least Neolithic times-for over 4000 years-and there were Bronze Age barrows on Charmydown (obliterated when a Spitfire Airfield was established in 1940 to defend Bristol) On the top of Little Solsbury (named after the goddess Sul), there is an Iron Age fort. It was reputed to be the home of Prince Bladud who discovered the curative powers of the warm springs in Bath. When king, he was killed and parts of his body rolled down Solsbury giving rise to some interestingly named pubs in Swainswick. There was certainly a village established here in Saxon times – named East Tun meaning the Settlement in the East – and the Romans had already built two roads through the village crossing at Stambridge, the London to Bristol road and the Fosse Way from Exeter to Lincoln. It is believed that this Fosse Way followed the old A4 trunk road through to, then along, Morris Lane then went up Bannerdown Road towards Cirencester. The Parish of St Catherine was associated with Batheaston and their two Churches were interlinked – as they are to this day. The entry in the Domesday Book is detailed with counts of all cattle etc. Naturally the centre of the village was built around its church; the present building of St.John the Baptist was started in 1262 on the site of a previous place of worship. Both St John’s and St Catherine’s were administered from Bath, and the monks there are supposed to have built a Monks’ Causeway of stone slabs all the way from St. Catherine’s to Bath Abbey. Only some very short sections of this Causeway now exist: at the Batch and from Eagle House in Northend up to New House Farm, Upper Northend. Much of the Village remains rural, within the Green Belt, and the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This delightful garden was originally part of the grounds of Batheaston House, dating from 1712. The garden, surrounded by old walls still has a rural character.