One of six caches placed on the main road approaches to the town, the idea being to take you around the outside of the town and end with a bonus in the middle. Due to major road works, one of them (number 5) cannot be placed for now but it will be hidden after the road works are completed. All are on fairly busy roads so please take care especially with young cachers and think about where it is appropriate and safe to pull over the cachemobile.
All, except the bonus, are similar types, but not identical, and are hidden in a similar way, 1 to 6 each has a little bit of potted history of the town in sort of chronological order, and each has information to make up co-ordinates for the bonus. Because number 5 is missing the bonus information is included in the description of the bonus until number 5 can be placed.
Northallerton is the headquarters of North Yorkshire County and Hambleton District Councils and is County Town of North Yorkshire (largest County in England). The town lies in the Vale of York between the Hambleton Hills and the River Swale and its name has varied over many centuries from Aluerton, Alvertune (11thc); Alvertona (12thc); North Alverton (14thc.) to its present form.
Northallerton is built along part of the original main road from York to Durham and the north, hence its importance. There seems to have been a Roman settlement here, and William I chose it as a camping place for his army in 1068. The area had been important before the Conquest but it is known that a castle was built by the Bishop of Durham Hugh Pudsey in 1174.
The main East Coast Rail Line, the line to Teesside and Sunderland and what is now the Wensleydale Railway formerly met at Northallerton junction, to the south-west of the town, although the Wensleydale Railway currently runs from Leeming Bar into the Dale.
A feature of Northallerton today is its wide High Street, the main part being nearly half a mile long with a fine range of shops, a thriving Market on Wednesday and Saturday with a Farmers Market on the 4th Wednesday each month. Parking is plentiful at reasonable cost or free.
Using the information in each cache, the bonus can be found at N54° AB.CDE W001° FG.HIJ