The chapel:
Sotterley Mortuary Chapel was consecrated in 1883 by the bishop of Norwich. It was built, so the stories go, because the Barne family at Sotterley Hall were getting fed up with the locals traipsing their dead past their rather magnificent Georgian House to the parish church of St Margaret (where I have another church micro) inside the estate. Well, that's what the stories say anyway, although the new burial ground here was certainly more convenient.
The building is octagonal in shape and is in the care of the local parish councils. It was renovated a few years ago after being in danger of falling into total disrepair. The site is used for events on occasions throughout the year, so you might turn up to find a flower festival or some other event going on - in which case, stop and have a look by all means, but you'd be better off leaving the cache for another day. If you're lucky you might find that there are leaflets about the chapel or, even better, describing walks in the local area.
There is usually a place or two to park either outside the chapel or by the picnic table on the triangle of grass at the road junction. This is a popular spot for cyclists to stop on Cycle Route 31 which passes the building - so if you're local enough, cycling is an excellent way to get here (just watch that hill at Ellough...).
The cache:
The final coordinates for this cache will need to be calculated using N 52 24.ABC E 001 36.DEF
Clue 1 - find the information board just inside the entrance to the chapel grounds. At the bottom left hand corner there is a telephone number attached to the board - on the wooden frame rather than on a notice. If the 6 digit part of the number if STUVWX, then A is U and E is X.
Clue 2 - count the number of windows in the chapel walls - including the porch. Subtract one from this to get C.
Clue 3 - a bench can be found against the south-west wall of the chapel. There are the names of two people engraved on it. The number of letters in the first person's forename is D; the number of letters in the second person's forename is F.
Clue 4 - leave the chapel grounds now and head across to the benches on the triangle. Find the one dedicated to the memory of a cyclist. The number of times 0 (zero) appears in the dates on this bench will give you B.
There are plenty of places to take a seat and work out the final coordinates which should be not too far from where you are - you can check them using certitude if you're in any doubt. The final cache (which is on the smaller side of small) is not in the grounds of the chapel or Sotterley Hall and there is no need to go onto private land to find it. You may have some issues with mild undergrowth, including thorns and even nettles if you're unlucky.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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