Tea Series #3: All Saints Limuru
This is the 3rd of a series of 10 caches which take you through the lush green Limuru-Tigoni tea-growing area.
It is a short multi based in and around this historic church which should take around 30 minutes to do. The cache is a custom-made bottle-tops cache.
To Reach the Cache Location: Take the Limuru Road heading north past the Village Market mall as far as the Banana Hills road junction @ S 01 12.428 E 36 47.153. Turn off to the right (north) and follow this road up through the bustling Muchatha (2km from the junction) and Banana Hills (5km) areas emerging back out into the countryside, passing the Kentmere Club on your right (10km - and location of the cache GC3P914 Tea Series #2: Tigoni Time Warp) and on to the junction signposted Limuru Girls School @ S 01 07.991 E 36 41.875 (after some 14.5km). Turn right here on the tar road and proceed a short distance to the signposted entry drive to the Church on your left.
Step 1: After parking your car in the furthest parking area @ S 01 07.935 E 36 41.740, head for the stone plinth in the middle of the west side @ @ S 01 07.933 E 36 41.738 which commemorates the dedication of this small indigenous forest by Bishop Timothy Ranji. The date this occurred was 2A July 2007. There are more than B0 trees in this forest.
Step 2: Now proceed a short distance to the wooden structure @ S 01 07.94(B-5) E 36 41.75(A-B-3). A small commemorative plaque mentions the name of a lady. The number of letters in her last name = C.
Step 3: Now head for S 01 07.92(C-4) E 36 41.75(C+1) where you will be facing a portal. The number of bolts in the upper curved metal fixture of each door = D.
Step 4: Head across to the grave at S 01 07.91(D+4) E 36 41.74(D-2). The lady buried here had E children (all boys) and passed away in 196F.
The cache may be found at:
S 01 07.9(A-C)(E+F) E 36 41.7(B-2)(D+2)
Please watch out for muggles when retrieving and replacing the cache and make sure it is returned to its hiding place properly concealed.
The church is located in the middle of the beautiful tea growing area of Tigoni, Limuru.
The plot on which the church stands was donated by a Limuru settler-businessman Mr. Colin Campbell about 1912. The first church building was a little wood and iron structure erected on stilts which was consecrated by Bishop Heywood in 1913. By the 1930s the original building was proving too small, so in 1936 a fund-raising fete was held in the grounds of Brackenhurst Hotel near Limuru by the parishioners, most of whom were European settlers. They rode through the streets of Nairobi in donkey carts dressed Cockney Pearly Kings and Queens to raise funds to built a lager church, which finally cost the princely sum of ₤ 1,200.
Mr. AB McDonell, one of the earliest European settlers in Limuru, a farmer and architect was asked to submit designs for a new church. His plan, based on a English country church, was approved and he was asked to supervise the building. The working drawings were done by Messrs. Cobb and Archer, architects of Nairobi, and an Indian mason called Premji was employed to manage the stonework.
Construction of the building started in 1939 and was completed a year later. The church was consecrated by Bishop of Mombasa, Reginald Perey Crabb, on 7th April 1940. A harambee on that day raised a record Kshs. 664.55 cents. The bell tower was added about 1956.
Much of the timber used in construction came from trees planted as seedlings by Mr. McDonell on his nearby Kiambethu Farm and the stone was quarried locally. Building started in 1939 and was completed a year later.
'AB' as he was affectionately known, made most of the church's wood carvings in church and his beautiful designs can be seen in the reredos behind the alter, the front of the altar, the ends of the choir stalls, the pulpit, the kneeling stools for the padre and the panels in front of the gallery. The arches above the chancel are made from wood grown on his Farm.
The stained glass windows came from a Devonshire church which was being demolished. Measurements were sent over and the glass was cleverly made to fit the chancel windows, the gallery and small windows on the staircase. The paintings behind the altar were painted by Mrs. Lulu Dyer a well known artist, and wife of another Limuru farmer. Donations of furniture, the organ, the church bell, kneelers, and many other objects went towards creating this beautiful little church.
The church was finally completed and consecrated by the Bishop of Mombasa, Reginald Percy Crabb, on 7 April, 1940 and first service to be held was Holy Communion on Easter day when a record collection was taken of Kshs 664.55.
A particular treasure in the church is a brass Alms dish which is thought to 
have come from a ruined John of Gaunt chapel in the grounds of Chapelwood Manor in Nutley Parish, England. The owner, Lady Brassy sent it to a jumble sale where it was bought by AB’s sister, Mrs. Florence Phillips and given to All Saints in 1939. It is thought to be 12th or 13th Century and of Arabic origin, with a typical centre pattern. Two small marks, a Maltese Cross and another were probably added to the plain tray. The inscription is a some kind of motto repeated four times which may be in old French. It is likely that The Knights Hospitalers or Knights of Malta, or a crusader, when abroad, had it crafted by an Arab smith, taking what was a plain Arab tray and having his house or the Knight’s motto added.
The small cemetery in front (most Africans are buried at their traditional homes) contains the grave of Louis Leakey, well known Kenyan archaeologist and naturalist, and those of his parents, Harry and Mary Leakey, who were British missionaries in Kenya.
In the 1960s the parking area was moved east of the church in order to release more area for the graves on the west side. n 1957 Mr. Henry Porter donated another acre of land on which was built the present Vicar’s house and Verger’s house in 1972.
More recently a multipurpose Church Hall and office complex have been developed on this plot. Over the years there were plans to extend the church but the extensions were considered unaffordable. Rather than extend the church, a Church Hall was considered a priority. After raising the required funds the large hall was constructed starting in 2007 and was finally opened on 7 October 2012.