Church History
St Peter's Church is the former parish church of Barton-upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire. It is a Grade I listed building and one of the best known Anglo-Saxon buildings, in part due to its role in Thomas Rickman's identification of the architectural style. It has been subject to major excavations. The former Church of England church is now run by English Heritage and houses an exhibition exploring its history.
In 669 Saint Chad founded a monastery in neighbouring Barrow-upon-Humber. An Anglo-Saxon charter dated 971 suggests that Barton became a grange attached to this monastery. The earliest graves on the site of the church date from the ninth century; and was Barton’s earliest Christian cemetery. Excavations between 1977 and 1985 uncovered more than 3000 skeletons from the site. Due to waterlogged conditions, many of the Anglo-Saxon wooden coffins also survived.
Alongside the excavation, extensive repairs to the building were undertaken. In 2007, the skeletons were placed in an on-site ossuary, so as to leave them in consecrated ground close to their original location, while still permitting future study. The church was opened by English Heritage as a visitor attraction in May 2007. Three skeletons remain on display in the church, alongside a selection of grave goods and two coffins.
The Cache
Cache is located at: N 53° 41.ABC' W 000° 26.DEF'
Barton is long overdue a Church Micro, so here it a new one for your enjoyment in an incredible historical setting. To gather co-ordinates, start by facing the main door into the church. This is the south side of the churchyard. We’ll go to the north side of the churchyard soon.
A: To the right of the main entrance are three tombstones. Find Rachel Parrett’s headstone. If she died on New Year’s Eve then A=0, if it was New Year’s Day then A=1.
B: Walk away from the church back towards the crossroads in the path and enter the southern part of the cemetery. There is a prominent tombstone of John Scarborough in here – capped with a huge star. How many points does the star have? Take this number and minus 2 for B.
C: The church is only open to the public on Sundays and bank holidays. Find the opening times. What time does it close? Add 1 to this number for C (Example: if it closed at 5pm, then C would be 6).
D: Take a walk around the entire churchyard. How many paths provide access to the churchyard? Locked gates/inaccessible paths don’t count. Take this number and minus two for D.
E: On the north side of the churchyard, find the tombstone of the fantastically named Christmas Johnson. What year did he die? Take the first number and subtract it from the third number for E. (Example: If it was 1921, then you should subtract 1 away from 2).
F: Staying on the north side of the churchyard; there is a small door on the left hand side as you face the church. Next to this is a commemoration stone built into the wall. What year was it installed? Take the 2nd number for F. (Example: If it was 1621, then the answer is 6).
Got them all? Then off to the GZ with you! Its a short walk, on concrete paths. The actual cache is a disguised mag nano. It should be easy found, but some discretion is required. Log only inside, so bring pen and tweezers to get the log - tweezers seriously recommended for this type of micro.
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here:
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at:
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html