Edgar Wood Multi-Cache
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Size: 
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The architect Edgar Wood (1860-1935) was born in Middleton and after qualifying in 1885 initially set up a practice in Middleton. He later had practices in Oldham and Manchester, but continued to live in Middleton for fifty-six years and many of his buildings are concentrated in the area. This multi cache has been planned to take you to see different examples of his work.
STAGE 1: Redcroft – The once Home of Edgar Wood This Grade II-listed house, Redcroft, on Rochdale Road was designed by Wood in 1891 & he lived here until 1916 Edgar Wood’s home was restored to its former glory, work was completed in early 2016. It was given a makeover by the Middleton Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI), which has seen Rochdale Council use part of a £1.9m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The work involved a full external restoration, including roof repairs, re-rendering, replacement windows and works to the boundary wall to restore the Edgar Wood features that have disappeared over time. Looking at the house, walk further up Rochdale Road to your right away from Middleton town centre. You will reach a bus stop (Rochdale Road Cleworth Road) several buses service this stop, add up all the numbers on the top row of the bus stop sign (NOT the timetable, the actual bus stop) This number = GHI STAGE 2: Former Independent Labour Club, Milton Street. The Middleton Independent Labour Club was designed by Edgar Wood in 1911 and built in 1912. The Middleton Guardian reported its opening on 27th July 1912 and described the building as containing a spacious hall, large club room and all modern conveniences, being well provided with windows and a complete electric installation, and with a bowling green and gardens. A plan and elevation drawing dated 1910 had previously been published in the American Architectural Review, which showed a grander, two-storey building with a club room, library, ladies' room, two committee rooms and two cloakrooms on the ground floor, and a public hall on the first floor. The Club as built was a simpler, single-storey building. The Independent Labour Party was founded in 1893 following a conference in Bradford chaired by Kier Hardie. In 1900 the ILP joined with trade unions and other socialist groups to form the Labour Representation Committee, which became the Labour Party in 1906. To begin with the ILP provided Labour's grass roots activists and a significant number of its parliamentarians, until the Labour Party introduced its own individual membership in 1918. Though Edgar Wood's background was Liberal, he was sympathetic to Middleton's Independent Labour Party, giving a talk on architecture in 1905 and designing the header for The Herald, the branch's newspaper. The building was given Grade II listed status in October 2014 LOOK AT THE BUILDING & FIND THE BURGLAR ALARM BOX. THERE IS A PHONE NUMBER 01706 JKLMNO STAGE 3: Long Street Methodist Church Long Street Methodist Church was originally known as the Wesleyan Chapel and School. It was designed in 1897 and built in 1899-1901. The church and school are beautiful examples of the Arts & Crafts movement. They have many internal and external features which represent this unique style. AS YOU LOOK AT THE CHURCH YOU WILL SEE TWO BLACK GRIDS IN THE WALL OF THE CHURCH COUNT THE SQUARES IN ONE OF THE GRIDS = EF STAGE 4: The Manchester & Salford Bank, Middleton The former Manchester & Salford Bank is to be found in Middleton’s Market Place. Still used as a bank the building is faced in a buff coloured glazed terracotta which he had taken to using around the time (1892) he designed this building. It’s drainpipes & fittings are very artistic in design Wood was an experimental architect and soon developed an architectural language that included dramatic dormers and tall bay windows that ran through the eaves. Wood liked to use both symmetry & asymmetry in his designs, this is shown here where the first & second floors are symmetrical whilst the ground floor is asymmetrical with three different types of doorways of increasing elaboration. Look at the building. There is a green door with a green plaque to the right of it. Above this door are two words and two letters carved into the stone. Count all the letters. The total number of letters = PQ STAGE 5: 33-37 MANCHESTER ROAD (1908) Situated in the shopping centre of Middleton, this small block of shops must have made a very startling appearance in Edwardian Middleton. First, they are flat-roofed, and secondly the front of each shop is defined by a broad panel of white glazed tiles, each patterned with three vertical lines of chevrons in green tiles. In between the panels are narrow bands of good quality facing bricks." Originally the shop fronts and all joinery fittings were painted white and the shop windows were divided into panes of near-Regency proportion. The use of glazed tiles is of considerable interest in an atmosphere as polluted as that of Middleton, and it appears to have been intended to provide permanent colour and a self-cleansing surface. The shop fronts have all been altered but the tiled panels remain, no surface in such conditions is ever self-cleansing, however, and the original effect has been dulled. Washing down, as in modern office buildings, would probably restore the effect. This link shows more images of the buildings. http://manchesterhistory.net/architecture/1920/middletonshops.html In between the left & middle shops is a burglar alarm box white in colour with blue & green on. There is an 11 digit telephone number on the box. Add all 11 the numbers together. You will then have a 2 figure number which represents VW STAGE 6: Birch Fountain and Horse Trough. Heywood Old Road is mainly used by commuters travelling to & from the M60 from Heywood, thus avoiding the nightmare that can be the M62. As people fly up & down the road it is easy to overlook the fine examples of Edgar Wood’s architecture in the area including the Birch Fountain & Horse Trough. When first erected 1888 the fountain was described as a handsome stone structure having a drinking cup for humans and water troughs for horses and dogs. It originally had a gilded gas lamp fitted to the top of the square pillar. The fountain horses trough was Listed as a Grade 2 26 June 2001. The fountain originally stood further down the road at the Whittle Lane crossroads in Birch. When Heywood Old Road was upgraded in 1921, it was thought that the fountain would be a hazard to the increasing volume of traffic. The monument was moved to a temporary site, onto the footpath at the side of the White Hart hotel. It has remained in this "temporary" home for the last 90 + plus years despite campaigns to have it restored and moved to a better location. It is made from Ashlar gritstone and red brick & is a depressed semi-circular arched structure rising from shallow gabled buttresses. The arch is supported by a square pier, rising from a red brick base, and which passes through the arch centre, the arch head carrying gablets either side of the pier. It has a moulded flat cap to pier, with small dome finials to corners. Located between the central pier and the outer buttresses are 2 stone troughs. The trough was designed to commemorate the completion of a new weaving shed at Messrs. Woods' textile factory, and donated to the people of Birch. Near to the fountain is a bus stop, it’s not in use but there is a code on there it begins with NE then there are 4 numbers. Those numbers equal RSTU THE FINAL & PHYSICAL LOCATION OF THE CACHE IS IN A SECLUDED LOCATION TO AVOID IT BEING MUGGLED. IT IS FAIRLY EASY TO FIND CONSIDERING THE WORK YOU WILL HAVE PUT IN TO FIND THE INFORMATION TO GET TO THE FINAL STAGE. THE FINAL STAGE IS ABOUT HALF A MILE AWAY FROM STAGE 6. TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE & FIND THE CO-ORDINATES TO THE LAST STAGE WHERE THE CACHE CONTAINER IS HIDDEN REPLACE THE FOLLOWING LETTERS WITH THE NUMBERS YOU HAVE FOUND AT EACH OF THE PLACES YOU HAVE VISITED: N 53. (F-H) V . (N+P) (Q-S) (G-W) W 002. P (M-J) . (G-I) (K-L) (E+R+U) YOU CAN CHECK YOUR ANSWERS HERE:
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com. ***CONGRATULATIONS TO MATT BLACK FOR FTF!! ***
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ovyyvbanver Ovyy
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