Our first cache, placed by chuckles80 and geeky82. Placed in the Appleby Magna McDonalds carpark. Can be done as a cache and dash off the M42 or A444. Some stealth may be required.
Welcome to Appleby Magna, historically one of the largest and wealthiest parishes in Leicestershire, as shown by the large, imposing church. However the population has always remained small. The name Appleby is derived from Apa meaning water and byr meaning settlement. Magna means big in Latin. Little brother Appleby Parva meaning small sits just a little further down the A444.
There is evidence of human settlement in Appleby Magna dating back 6000 years. A dig in 1966 revealed prehistoric pottery and crop marks. Iron Age and Bronze Age crop marks and ring ditches have also been found in the area. Activity continues into the Roman Era with evidence of a Roman villa or farm and possible evidence of a Roman temple on the site currently occupied by the parish church. Over the road from the McDonalds is a hotel, during its constuction a Roman farm was discovered with coins dating from Constantine (307-337) and Magnentius (350-353). They also found pottery, roof tiles, a knife blade and evidence of corn drying ovens. Three known Roman roads run within 10 miles of Appleby Magna.
During the Saxon period, Appleby Magna was located in the Kingdom of Mercia, with its capital Tamworth only 8 miles away.The first Christian church was built in this period. It was a wooden chapel built on the site occupied by the current church. Appleby Magna is listed in the Domesday Book as being partly in Derbyshire and Leicestershire and owned jointly by the Abbey of Burton, Henry de Ferrers and Lady Godiva of no clothes fame and was worth 90 shillings (£4.50).
Ownership passes to the local lords the De Appleby family who dominate the village until the Tudor period. However the Sir George de Appleby dies at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, his wife is burned at the stake as a Protestant martyr and their children both die childless. The Moore family take over lordship of the area and build the school, which is designed by Christopher Wren's company. They also built a new manor house and almhouses. In the modern era, the village supplied labour to the Derbyshire coalfields and is today a sleepy village used by commuters travelling on the M42.