This Cache is situated on the Hadrians Cycleway in Allonby. The Container was changed from Small to Micro on 26th May 2023 after the Original went missing. At first sight Allonby appears to be just one long straggly street with most of the houses on the landward side of the main road. If you make the effort though and get out of the car there are quite a few surprises.
The village owes much of its development to the Quakers, many of whom lived here or had family connections. A little way north of the village, opposite the Waypoint, is North Lodge, built in the 1830s by Thomas Richardson, a Quaker banker who married local girl Martha Beeby. He used the central portion of the building as a family holiday home. In each of the wings were two single storey cottages and a small double storey cottage on each end (six in total). These were set up as Quaker alms houses and were occupied rent free, by local widows and spinsters, each receiving a yearly pension or allowance of £5. A small Quaker burial ground is attached at the North end and can be accessed through the Brown Gates.
Thomas Richardson also built the school at Allonby and endowed it with money to be spent on training bright pupils to be student teachers. It is a fine building made of sandstone, very solid and traditionally built. It is a thriving little school and recently had the good fortune to get a grant to extend into the playground where a large hall, dining room and extra classroom were added.
Also to be found near the north end of the village is the former Friends Meeting House, where the Allonby Quakers worshipped. It was originally a cottage, but such was the number of members living in the village that in 1703 it was converted into the meeting house and extended in 1732. It was used for worship until 1991 when it was sold and converted back into a dwelling.
The plaque on the south face of the Old Chapel, now a private house, states that it was a Congregational Chapel and gives a date of 1844. The Cache is named for this 'Old Chapel'.
Next to the Chapel is the former 'Sunshine Home', an establishment that offered short 'seaside holidays' to deprived or poorly children from the surrounding industrial towns of West Cumberland. My mother, (DEZZIE), spent some happy times here when she was a young girl.
Tweezers may be required. Please Replace Carefully.
You may need your own Pen to sign the Log.
Supervision of young Children needs to be Considered due to the Proximity of the Beck
Plenty of Parking available South of the Cache in the Village. You can use the posted Waypoint if approaching from the North.
Certain disabled Cacher's would be best approaching from the South and may/will need assistance retrieving the Cache.
By Kind Permission of Solway Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and endorsed by Allonby Parish Council.
Well done ian27368 for FTF