This cache is all about one of Headington’s former residents, J.R.R. Tolkien who was a writer, poet and University Professor, and who, on his retirement, moved from North Oxford to Sandfield road Headington.
The above co-ordinates will not take you to the cache but will take you to see Tolkien’s former home where there is a plaque dedicated to him.
Born in South Africa, he grew up in the West Midlands before attending Oxford University as a student. He moved back to Oxford in 1925, eventually becoming Professor of English language and Literature at Merton college where he stayed until retirement, living in North Oxford.
J.R.R. Tolkien lived in Sandfield Road, Headington from 1953 until 1968. It was while he lived here that “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy was published. It was also here that he did much of his writing, working in the garage that had been converted into his office.
He had always been fascinated by languages and and had considerable linguistic gifts, mastering many languages and inventing and constructing his own.The most developed of these he came to call Quenya which was influenced by Finnish and was one of the Elvish languages used in “The Lord of the Rings”
Tolkien didn't end his days in Headington. It seems he left Headington for Bournemouth in 1968, when the attentions of his fans became too distracting, after the success of “ The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”
After his wife died in 1971, he returned to Oxford and lived in rooms at Merton college until his own death two years later in 1973. He is buried in Wolvercote cemetery.
The cache is not located near his former home but is in an area that he probably knew.
An urban cache,no mud or ivy, but stealth is required.
To find the cache you have to solve the following puzzle. Assume N51 and W001
27/4 1/1 6/1 7/4 9/1. 1/2 23/2 M P 5/3. 7/2 7/6 M P 23/3. 16/2 27/2 M P 5/3. 13/1 26/3 29/1 17/3.
M 3/1 26/1 Q U 7/6. 8/1 27/2 27/1 2/4 5/3. 4/2 2/1 19/1 21/2. 26/1 20/3 25/2 21/3 5/3.