The church:
The parish church of St. Mary's has been likened to a miniature version of the cathedral in Exeter, as both are cruciform in plan and have transcepts formed by towers. It was consecrated in 1260, when the manor and patronage of the church belonged to Rouen Cathedral in Brittany.
The church is noted for its painted ceiling and early sixteenth-century fan-vaulted aisle, while the bell tower contains the Ottery St. Mary Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest surviving mechanical clocks in the country.
Parish registers for the area are now housed in the local records office and date back to 1601.
The cache:
- A short distance along the outer wall from the headline coordinates is an inlaid memorial to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It shows he died in 18AB.
- Head into the churchyard and towards the main entrance to the building itself. Just before the entrance, on the right, there is a small row of gravestones. One is a memorial to a Thomas Shorland and his wife, Mary. It shows that Thomas died aged CD years.
- Proceed round the building anticlockwise - you will be able to see a wooden bench facing you. Close to that bench is the Commonwealth War Grave of Sapper W.J. Palfrey. His military service number is listed 2E64F7 and he died aged only GH years.
The cache can be located at:
N 50º B C . A (E+F) E
003º F D . [ZERO] ( G + H) (E / G)
The final is some distance from the church but is within a few minutes walk of the specified parking waypoint. I would estimate it to be a 10-15 minute walk or few minutes drive from the church to the final. It is placed near to a watercourse, but there is no need to go close to the water to get the cache. There is no lighting at the final location, so please either attempt this in daylight or with appropriate equipment. The terrain underfoot can vary quite dramatically with the weather, but I believe a 2.5 rating is a fair. My GPS was jumping a little due to the tree cover - the coordinates I have based this cache on were the average of three readings I took, so hopefully they are accurate enough to enable the cache to be found.
****************** ********************
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.
****************** *******************