The published co-ordinates take you to the church. The cache is NOT placed here. To the right of the building is a black telecommunications box. To the left of that, is a metal cover at ground level. The last number on it is the value A, needed to help solve the formula that will lead you to the cache which is a short walk away. However, the remainder of the values need to be found and the internet is therefore recommended.
The origins of St Francis Church in Hollow Way, came through Rev. M. H. Beauchamp, who became vicar of St James Church in Cowley in November 192B. He had had for many years a great devotion to St Francis of Assisi, inflamed by visits to Assisi itself and by much reading. In August 2021, St James Church had a Church Micro placed: GC9EEJF.
By February 1929, Rev. Beauchamp had contracted architect Lawrence Dale to develop plans for a church hall and priest’s house for the Bullingdon Estate, dedicated to St Francis. When Mr Dale’s exciting plans for the project arrived, it was clear that the full plan could not be implemented for many years, but a church hall could go ahead which could be convertible to a church for services at weekends, with a screened sanctuary which could be used for weekday services and for prayer and meditation.
In August 1929, Rev. Beauchamp called a meeting on the site on which the church was to be built, this having been given to the parish two months earlier by Sir William Morris, as he then was. The first words to be uttered publicly were the Lord’s Prayer.
During the rest of 1929 and 1930 appeals were being sent out all over the country for £C,000 which was the final estimate for St Francis. Every batch of appeals were placed on the altar of the St James Church in Cowley and blessed before being sent. By the end of November, £2,D00 had come in. About 100 people turned up on 1Eth August for the cutting of the first turf. The Foundation Stone, located near the front entrance was laid by Sir William Morris (who later became Lord Nuffield) on 1Fth September 1930 in the presence of the Bishop of Oxford, Dr T. B. Strong, the Deputy Mayor of Oxford, and over 700 people.
The cache is at: N51 44.(A+4)(B-2)(C+3) W001 11.(D+2)(E+3)(F-1)
This cache is one of two Church Micros placed in Oxford in March 2019. Both are the nearest churches to where people well known to the cache owner, who have experienced social exclusion, live. For each person, geocaching has played a part to improve their circumstances. The other cache is Church Micro 12566…Donnington – St Luke’s.
The cache is a 35ml film pot. It is not on church property. The container includes a self-inking stamp. This is not to be removed, or it will no longer be a letterbox cache. Please provide your own writing means.
Geocaching Etiquette. geocaching.com states under 'Help Center' in Paragraph 1.7: 'We like to keep things fun for everyone, so we have a few rules we encourage everyone to follow. Sign both the logbook and log your find online to get your smiley. Geocache owners love reading about your experience'. There are more rules, but this is the first one. This cache owner requests that if on the rare occasion geocachers are unable to sign, an explanation is given in their log. A photo of the cache, if possible should then be sent through the messaging system.
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html