CHURCH HISTORY
A church has stood on this site since the 7th century. The early church would have made from wood and thatched with reeds. The monks from Chertsey Abbey may have originally ministered to the villagers, but the entry for Shepperton in the Doomsday Book does include a priest. In the 12th century a more solid structure of stone and flint was built. In 1605-6 high floods inundated the church. Some timber and stone were salvaged and incorporated into the present building which was completed in 1614. A hundred years later the Rev Lewis Atterbury, at the suggestion of Queen Anne, added the tower. This is built in Thames Valley brick, contrasting with the rest of the building, which is in a chequered design of stone blocks alternating with squares of flint rubble. The tower contains six bells, five of them dating from 1877 and the smallest bell named Little Nicholas was installed in 1980, when the tower was strengthened. The clock was placed in the tower in 1769. There is an external staircase leading to the gallery, added in 1834. There is another external staircase leading to the smaller Manor House Gallery over the baptistry. This enabled the Lord of the Manor to cut across the fields from the Manor House and enter his own pew without having to mix with the rest of the congregation. From this vantage point he could also keep a watchful eye on the Rector!
The choir and clergy vestries on the south side were added in 1934. It is noticeable that the chancel and the nave are not quite in alignment - this could have been an error by the architect or maybe the builder. The pew are called "box pews" and date from the 19th century. On the gallery you will see a coat of arms painted directly on to the panelling. It is the Hanoverian Royal Arms, probably those of William IV. There are many reminders of past worshippers in the church, the stained glass windows, stone and brass tablets and war memorials. The chancel screen, reredos and choir and clergy stalls, along with the glass screens at the back of the church and the gallery, were all given by relations and friends in grateful memory of past parishioners. The organ is a Bishop organ installed in 1908. Originally a choirboy was paid one old penny to work the bellows for each service.
After looking around the Church, the outside of Erasmus House, once the Rectory, can be seen from the Car Park. The central reception hall was built in the 15th century, before the present Church, but there has been many changes and additions over the years. Whilst Erasmus House appears to be brick built, it is in fact, timber framed with cladding of mathematical tiles and is now privately occupied. As with many ancient buildings, ghost stories surround it. It is said to be haunted by the ghost of Erasmus, a 15th century Dutch renaissance scholar and friend of William Grocyn, the Rector of Shepperton 1504-13. Happily there are not too many sightings! The new Rectory was built in 2005.
In the Churchyard there are one or two interesting gravestones; one of Margaret Love Peacock, the younger daughter of an English poet, Thomas Love Peacock.
Other famous people who have connections with the Rectory or Church are the famous hymn writer John Mason Neale and the novelist George Eliot. There is a reference to King Richard III having stayed at the Rectory on the eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field, but if true, it does cast some doubt on Richard's sense of direction!
THE CACHE
At the published coordinates you will be just inside the gates to the church, where all the answers to the following questions can be found.
There are some external steps to the first floor of the tower. On the left hand side of the steps the railings have A vertical metal bars, and on the right there are BC vertical metal bars on the step railings.
The [Update August 2023] has been removed
Under the steps there is a bench in loving memory of JR who was born in 19D1, and died in 19E8
Closeby on an external wall of the church you will see a small wooden cabinet (looks like a dartboard cainet) which has a five word phrase above the doors. The 4th word is '&' Count the number of letters in the other words to give FGH&J
The flagstaff was presented in loving memory of CL who died in 1972 aged KL
The checksum of all numbers A-L is 44
The final cache can be found at :-
N51 2F.G(A+B)(C-D)
W000 2E.(J-H)LK
The checksum of all numbers in the coordinates is also 44
PARKING
Is very limited at GZ, but there is a large pay and display car park to the North East, but the roundabout at the bottom of Shepperton High Street, or to the west of GZ if you are lucky you will find some street parking in residential roads.
Happy Hunting
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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