Before the coming of the railways, Bishopstoke was a small rural community, gathered around a crossing point over the River Itchen, with the old St Mary's church as its focal point. This, therefore, formed a natural ecclesiastical parish, the forerunner of the modern civil parish, the basic unit of modern government. The ecclesiastical parish once included what is now Fair Oak Parish and stretched from the Itchen in the west to what is now the B2177 at Lower Upham (a road that took its present form around 1840) in the east.
The coming of the railways changed the locality hugely, bringing industry and relatively dense residential development.The community of Bishopstoke grew over a period of nearly a century without the benefit of its own Parish Council, until, in the mid 1990s, a group of Bishopstoke residents joined together to take the necessary statutory steps for the formation, or rather re-formation, in 1996, of a brand new Bishopstoke Parish Council.
13th Eastleigh Sea Scouts are celebrating their 50th Anniversary in 2015 so decided to place a geocache where they meet every friday. Both cubs and scouts have been actively involved with geocaching over the last few months.
The geocache is a micro clear pot that is not magnetic. It is hidden outside the church grounds so there is no need to enter the church grounds. Please place it back where you found it. It would be great to see photographs. UPDATE - Corrected the hint and description!