Ruddy Luddites Mystery Cache

The cache is NOT at the given location.

You will need to solve the puzzle to find the container.

This cache forms one of the Ruddington Puzzle Cross as listed below, designed by Dr RuddRobins, tested & difficulty rated by Mrs. RuddRobins and swagged up + placed mainly by the young RuddRobins.

This cache also contains a clue to find the final Bonus Cache.

Log sheet only here, please bring pen.

William Lee from Calverton in Nottingham invented the first knitting frame. This made it possible for workers to produce knitted goods around 100 times faster than by hand. This was the first step in the mechanisation of the textile industry and led to framework knitting playing a key role in the early days of the Industrial Revolution.

By the early 1800s, there were around 20,000 frames in use across the East Midlands, with almost half in Nottinghamshire. In time, the frameworkers discovered how to adapt their machines to knit cotton and lace as well as wool – and the Nottingham lace industry was born. 

The framework knitters had to pay to use their knitting frames, even if no work was available, and buy all their own materials. Low wages and high overheads meant the whole family would have to work, with children taking on tasks such as wool-winding, just to make ends meets. Poor health and malnutrition were rife. 

In the early 1800s, framework knitting wages were falling. Workers were living in extreme poverty and, all too often, being exploited by unscrupulous Master Hosiers. The knitters sent a petition to parliament, but didn’t get the help they needed. Years of hardship ended in frustration – and the Luddite rebellion erupted in 1811.

Lord Byron denounced what he considered to be the plight of the working class, the government’s inane policies and ruthless repression in the House of Lords:  "I have been in some of the most oppressed provinces of Turkey; but never, under the most despotic of infidel governments, did I behold such squalid wretchedness as I have seen since my return, in the very heart of a Christian country."

The Luddites were a radical group of English textile workers and weavers in the 19th century who destroyed weaving machinery as a form of protest. The group was protesting the use of machinery in a "fraudulent and deceitful manner" to get around standard labour practices. Luddites feared that the time spent learning the skills of their craft would go to waste as machines would replace their role in the industry. It is a misconception that the Luddites protested against the machinery itself in an attempt to halt the progress of technology. Over time, however, the term has come to mean one opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation, or new technologies in general. The Luddite movement began in Nottingham and culminated in a region-wide rebellion that lasted from 1811 to 1816. Mill owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was suppressed with military force. 

The framework knitting industry was a key factor in the growth and development of the village of Ruddington. In 1851, about 50% of all households in the village were engaged in the industry in some way. Most of these buildings are now private homes and businesses although The Framework Knitters Museum preserves the working and living conditions of framework knitters in Victorian times.
 

The puzzle: N 52 5A.BCD  W 001 0E.FGH

• The movement began in Arnold, Nottingham on 11/0A/1811
• The first knitting frame was invented by William Lee from Calverton in vwEB
• C= w-v
• Activists smashed Heathcote's lacemaking machine in Loughborough in 181X
• Luddite Operations in Lancashire started in March 181Y
  • (D=X+Y)
• Lord Byron denounced the government’s policies and repression in the House of Lords on ab/02/cdef
• F=d-(b+e)
• G=a+c+f
• Luddite Operations in West Riding of Yorkshire started in early 18PQ
  • (H=P+P+Q)

The caches in the series are:

10 of the caches as marked contain a clue to find the final Bonus Cache.