Church Micro 12092...Royston - St John the Baptist
The parish church of St John the Baptist is the only surviving part of an Augustinian priory which dates from the latter half of the twelfth century. Between 1164 and 1179 a chapel for three canons was established and this was subsequently raised to a priory initially for a community of only seven canons. It was set up on land granted by Eustace de Marc, Lord of the Master of Newsells and its site may have been influenced by the existence of a nearby wayside cross and the possible presence of a hermitage at the crossroads of Ermine Street and Icknield Way. The cross was either established or restored by a Lady Roisia (Crox Roisia) and the town's name was thus derived: Roisia's Tun or Royston. The eighteenth century appears to have been relatively uneventful in the history of the building but the nineteenth century saw major changes with hardly a decade passing without work being carried out on the fabric. In 1823 the tower was given a coating of plaster, an organ and gallery were installed in the 1830s. Restoration work (including rebuilding windows and arches of the south aisle) was undertaken in the 1850s and 1860s. Between 1872 and 1875 the church began to take on its present appearance. The tower was encased in flint and the porch and medieval west door removed. The seventeenth century pews were torn out and replaced by the present pews and the medieval font was ejected, not to return until 1927. Then in 1981 the first major addition since the Dissolution was undertaken with the building of the chancel and the extension of the south aisle. In the twentieth century a vestry was added at the west end in 1928, the nave roof was restored in 1951 following the discovery of Death Watch Beetle, a new organ was built in 1978, re-ordering of the chancel was carried out in the 1980s and the Victorian west doors were removed and replaced by a glazed entrance porch in 1991.
This is a multi cache and IS NOT at the published coordinates.
The cache is a 5ml tube.
To find the cache:
At the published coordinates you will find a green information board and on the top right of the information board is a symbol with four words underneath. Check this out.
The number of letters in word one is A.
The number of letters in word two is B.
The number of letters in word three is C.
The number of letters in word four is D.
Final coordinates:
N 52° 0A.(D-B)CB
W 000° 0(A-C).(A-C)(D-C)C
Checksum of all digits in the coordinates = 28