Church Micro 9122 .... Rickarton Multi-Cache
Hidden : 2/6/2016
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:



The Slug Road formed part of one of several important crossings over The Mounth – the high ground that separates what is now the lowland part of Aberdeenshire from Angus and Perthshire.  ‘Slug’ is Gaelic ‘sloc’ meaning pit, hollow or muddy pool (especially so as it was also a cattle droving route that would have seen a lot of four-legged traffic churning it up) and the Concise Scots Dictionary specifically lists the Slug Road under ‘slock’ and refers to ‘Gael sloc(hd) a hollow, dell or pool’. Other writers refer to ‘Slochd’ as a pass – with Slochd Summit, the pass carrying road and rail between Aviemore and Inverness, the best-known one.  Just to complicate matters, but definitely in a good way, a correspondent from the Gaelic College at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig - points out that ‘slug’ in Gaelic means ‘swallow’ – so there may be some sort of linguistic connection between ‘sloc’ as in pool, which becomes a hollow or pass, and the swallow element of ‘slug’ by way of a choking point or throat – as in, for example, ‘My Lord’s Throat’ – a pass where the River Don goes through the hills, west of Inverurie.

This small former church is located in rural Aberdeenshire in the farming community of Rickarton, Fetteresso. It was built as a Free Church but was bought and converted to a private house some time ago after it became redundant. The church sits in small grounds with no graveyard, and is surrounded on two sides by former farm worker's cottages.

The church is fairly simple and rectangular on plan. The west gable has a large pointed-arch doorway, which has been partially blocked to create a window for an inserted kitchen. To either side is a lancet window, which have again been partially blocked to form smaller rectangular windows. The gable has a slightly projecting bellcote, corbelled out from the wall face. The side elevations of the church have four small lancet windows which reach the wallhead. A modern chimney rises from the roof.

If you are traveling from Stonehaven to Banchory the church will be on your left hand side, note the war memorial set in the wall ~ it used to be inside the church but removed and placed here when the church was converted to a house

As this is a multi cache you will need to gather some information from the war memorial and work out the final co ords which are :
N56.59.ABC W002.18.XYZ

A = Number of letters in the name of the cottage
B = Number of letters in last word of text before the list of names
C = How many Williams are there ?
X = Number of letters in name of the place George Smith was from
Y = How many men share the same surname ?
Z = Number of letters in christian name of WWII casualty Welsh

There is parking for a limited period at the end of the track, opposite side of the road to the memorial

If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here
(visit link)

There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at (visit link)

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

ZGG

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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