This is a visit to the estate and church in Mells that is said to have inspired the poem ‘Little Jack Horner’. It should be an easy find and is close to the Colliers Way cycle path.
It’s amazing that there should be another famous poem inspired so near to “Jack and Jill” (Cache GCP272).
“Mells and the Little Jack Horner story: The legend is that Richard Whiting the last Abbot of Glastonbury, at the time of the dissolution hoping to appease Henry VIII, sent his steward Jack Horner to London with a Christmas gift. This was a pie, in which was hidden the deeds of twelve manors. On the journey, Jack opened the pie and removed the deeds of Mells Manor, in the village of Mells. True or not, Thomas Horner took up residence at the manor shortly after the dissolution and one of his descendants was still living there in 1975. The story that deeds were hidden under a pie crust is not as unlikely as it may first seem, as Highwaymen were common and travellers would hide their gold, jewels and other valuables. Although Horner’s name was Thomas, he could have been known as Jack if he was a ‘bit of a lad’."
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visit link)
It is well worth a visit inside the Church at Mells. The Horner chapel in the NE corner has many of the Horner family tombs and memorials. You don’t need to go inside to complete the cache but it would be a shame to miss it. Park carefully on the road in Mells.
The posted coordinates take you to the grave stones of Sir John Horner and his wife outside in the church yard. Find the year John Horner was born in the form ABCD. Now find the grave stone of his BELOVED wife right next to him.
Using her first name, Take the 3rd letter, the 5th letter and the 6th letter and number them according to their order in the alphabet. (A=1, B=2 ...Z=26) You now have 3 numbers. Let them be X Y and Z and solve the following equation to get to the main cache.
The final cache is at coordinates: N 51 14.Z(A+B)(A-X) W 2 23.(A+C)BY
While you are still in the graveyard, you will find the grave of War Poet Siegfried Sassoon here as well.
You can exit the church yard thru a stile to the North. The cache container is now a black tape covered medicine bottle. Access is available along the public footpath. You don't need to go into any private areas.
After you find the cache you can continue on and go over stiles that will lead you back out to the road in a loop. Wellies a must in winter as it can be VERY muddy!