As a history-loving immigrant to West Yorkshire (from the far-away fields of the Midlands) I was amazed to learn that a modest stream that rises to the east of Leeds takes in the sites of three major historical battles.
The Cock Beck (beck is Northern English work for stream, deriving from the Old Norse word 'bekkr') starts just to the right of the delightfully named Stanks, around five miles to the north-east of Leeds city centre. On the map, it officially begins at the point where run-off from the fields at Whinmoor joints an existing stream called Grimes Dike. It winds for 17 miles (or 8.5 as the crow flies) to a flood plain just south of Tadcaster in North Yorkshire where it empties out into the River Wharfe.
Passing through the settlements of Manston, Penda's Fields, Barwick-in-Elmet, Aberford, Towton, and Stutton, the name Cock is thought to mature Salmon that used to be common in the river.
At Aberford the beck passes under what was once the route of the Great North Road, which ran from London to Edinburgh. The village was an important staging post, being roughly 200 miles from each city.
In 1643, during the English Civil War, The Battle of Seacroft Moor took place at Whin Moor near the then village of Seacroft. Thomas Fairfax's Parliamentarians were 'decisively beaten' by Royalist cavalry forces led by George Goring. Basically a massacre, this is the battle that is said to have caused the Cock Beck to 'run crimson with blood' for days afterwards.
Penda's Fields is said to be named after an Anglo-Saxon king called Penda of Mercia, whose troops fought in the Battle of the Winwaed in the area against a rival, Oswiu of Bernicia in the area in 655 BCE.
Famous for being "probably the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil", the Battle of Towton was fought near the eponymous village in 1461 as part of the Wars of the Roses. Here, during a snow storm, the monarchy changed hands, with the Lancastrian forces of Henry VI being defeated by Edward IV's Yorkists.
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As this is a multi-cache, the container is not at the published co-ordinates. Instead, you'll need to visit the posted location and a number of waypoints along the course of the beck in order to collect information that should lead you to the final hiding location. I guess this is a kind of cross-country cache, which you can do in a couple of hours if you have access to a car or a decent bicycle, or over different days if you don't have your own transport or if you just want to take it at a more leisurely pace. Incidentally, if you want to roughly walk the route of Cock Beck, it would take about six hours.
The posted co-ordinates take you to Waypoint 1, the start of a path that runs from Skeltons Lane, through the edge of Skelton Wood, to Naburn Approach. This location is 'kind of' the source of the Cock Beck. Run off from the fields on the other side of Skeltons Lane is funnelled into an occasionally visible shallow pipe that runs next to the path. The watercourse here is known as Grimes Dike. The playing fields here are frequently waterlogged. Despite this, new housing is being built nearby. The first piece of information to get is the last number of the patent. This is H. Now walk a little way down the path to the first lamp post. Take the top number and divide by two. This is A.
Waypoint 2 can be reached one of two ways; either along a path from Naburn Approach (near Acorn Drive), or through the woods and across the playing fields to the left of the path where you started. Both routes can get very muddy. Between the houses and the fields is where Grimes Dike first sees the light of day. Facing the direction of flow, count the number of round railings on the section of fencing above the end of the culvert (this is one 'panel' of railings, no need to count anything that runs parallel to the dike). Take away 2 from your answer to get FG.
Waypoint 3 takes you to Swarcliffe, and the location where Grimes Dike joins with a small tributary that forms out of the run-off from the fields at Morwick Farm (through which the new East Leeds Orbital Route is taking shape). Here is where Cock Beck officially begins. There are three lamp posts here. Each has some black numbers and letters on white stickers. How many lamp posts have at least one number ‘6’ on their stickers? The answer to this gives you D.
Waypoint 4 takes you some distance away, to Aberford. This is about halfway in the journey of the beck. As mentioned above it is also around halfway along the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh, but an even older road crossed here. Ermine Street was a roman road that linked London and York. It ran north through Lincoln, after which there were two routes. The primary, shorter headed directly towards York across the Humber estuary, but this wasn't always passible, so a diversionary route inland was built. This went through Doncaster and Castleford before crossing the Cock Beck here. At this Waypoint you'll need to count the number of concrete hydrant markers (these are next to the wall behind the green bench). This gives you B. The arches at each end of the bridge only have the waters of the Cock Beck flowing through them during times of flood. So how many arches usually have water flowing through them? This is E.
Waypoint 5 sees you at the mouth of the Cock Beck, where it joins the River Wharfe just south of Tadcaster. To the north you get a fine view of the chimneys of the many breweries in Tadcaster. Between you and the town runs the A64 Leeds - Scarborough road. The land here often floods when the river is up, the fields acting as a catchment area, holding water to help alleviate flooding further downstream. The last numbers you need the final co-ordinates can be found here. In the phone number, which digit is repeated the most. This is C. Look for the first number in the grid reference given. This is K. On the Wharfe side of the sluice gates is a depth gauge. The numbers in red show metres, and the highest red number shown is an ‘8’. What is the black number directly below? This is J.
***PLEASE NOTE: during times when the River Wharfe is at risking of being in flood, you MUST NOT attempt to access Waypoint 5. It will be inaccessible; to try to make your way here when the paths are underwater is TOO DANGEROUS. During times of flooding it is my intention to temporarily disable this cache.
When you have all the numbers, you should be able to work out where the cache can be found. It is hidden less than a mile away from Waypoint 5 (as the crow flies). The final co-ordinates are N 053 AB.CDE W 001 FG.HJK
You're looking for a small Tupperware container containing just a log book. Please note that you can only access the footpath from where it meets the road. I hope you enjoy this cache and the journey on which it takes you. Good luck.
Congratluations to 0RIN0C0 for their incredibly fast FTF.
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Parking: Although it would be brilliant if you had the ways and means to complete this multi by bike, using public transport (there are various bus services to each location), or even on foot, I thought it would be helpful to suggest parking locations for each stage.
Waypoints 1 & 2: There is a small car park at the library / post office just off Naburn Approach.
Waypoint 3: Langbar Close, off Stanks Drive, is your best bet for parking at this location.
Waypoint 4: Roadside parking is available along Bunkers Hill and Main Street in Aberford.
Waypoint 5: There a free car park in the centre of Tadcaster, just off the A659.
Final location: The main road in the village nearest to the co-ordinates is probably best to try. Please park considerately. Take great care when walking along the road to the head of the footpath, as there is no footway for 250 meters. There is NO PARKING available along the lane out of the village, nearer to the cache location.