I am pleased to have been given the opportunity to place a virtual cache in the most recent round of authorisations. I would like to use this as an opportunity to show you something important both to the history of my home town, and the history of democracy in general.
"The Chartist Uprising was the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in Great Britain, when, on 4 November 1839, nearly 10,000 Chartist sympathisers, led by John Frost, marched on the town of Newport, Monmouthshire. The men, including many coal-miners, most with home-made arms, were intent on liberating fellow Chartists who were reported to have been taken prisoner in the town's Westgate Hotel. About 22 demonstrators were killed when troops opened fire on them. The leaders of the rebellion were convicted of treason and were sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. The sentence was later commuted to transportation." - Wikipedia.
Many of the Chartists' demands were things that we take for granted today:
- - a vote for all men over the age of 25
- - equal sized electoral districts
- - abolition of the requirement for Members of Parliament to be property owners
- - a wage for Members of Parliament
- - annual general elections
- - a secret ballot
Mural telling the story of the Chartist Uprising on the wall of a local coffee shop.
To claim this cache:
Go to the listed co-ordinates and stand facing the entrance to the Westgate Hotel. Sadly the hotel is no longer operating and the entrance is boarded up, but you will have no trouble finding it. Look to your right, and you will see a group of four sculptures - and beyond them you will see the Chartist Milestone. Send an email to me via my profile stating
a) how far is it to Downing Street and
b) what is the short inscription (six words and a year) on the SIDE of the milestone (not the back).
If possible please upload a photo of yourself or your GPS either in front of the Westgate Hotel or by one of the sculptures (but NOT showing the milestone please). You may log straight away without waiting for a reply. I will contact you if your answers are incorrect.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.