The village of Stoke Row is at one of the highest points of the southern Chiltern Hills. The land is poor for farming with few natural sources of water. Deposits of clay and the surrounding woods have been an important local resource. The village is mainly along the 'main' road linking Sonning Common and Nuffield. The village is most famous for its Indian-style well (see cache GC4MQ0M). The parish church is at one end of the village and the chapel is at the other (see cache GC983NG)
The Church
Before 1848, the hamlet of Stoke Row was part of the parish of Ipsden and North Stoke, though with Ipsden Church being 4 miles away, church attendance from Stoke Row was not very good! The Vicar of the time, the Revd Richard Twopenny, had the support of Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford and many benefactors, especially Mr. John Reade and his family of Ipsden House, raising £2,500 for the provision of a church and school in Stoke Row. The site for the church, vicarage and school were given by St John’s College, Oxford who until recently remained the Patrons of the parish living. The Church of St John the Evangelist, Stoke Row, was consecrated on the 19th October 1848.
The building is a beautiful example of simple Victorian architecture. The rectangular floor space accommodates a nave seating about 90 people and a spacious chancel area. There is a tower at the north-east corner which houses the vestry, clock and bell. The exterior of the building is a fine example of flintwork in a variety of styles(!) and the roof is slate, with cedar shingles on the bell tower.
A delightful rose window was designed and made by Barbara Batt. The clock is a rare example from the 1920’s which is still in working order. It has recently been restored.
An imaginative reordering in 2011-2015 saw the pews removed, and a new wooden floor with underfloor heating installed, together with a disabled access toilet and kitchen in a small extension on the south side of the church. St John the Evangelist Church, Stoke Row is now in regular use by the the adjoining Church of England Primary school who use the wonderful space as their school hall, and it remains available to the whole community as a place for weddings, baptisms and funerals, as well as a weekly service of worship on Sundays
The Cache
To find the cache you will need to enter the churchyard and at the posted coordinates find the grave of Rudolf Scholz. His is a very sad story of the sacrifice of a young man far from home – see https://fcafa.com/2012/11/21/rudolf-scholz-remembered/ for the full details and to answer two of the questions below.
Then move around to the north side of the church (adjacent to Main Street)
The cache location is
N51 32.ABC
W001 01.DEF
A = The number of crew members on the flight which crashed and killed Rudolf (use the website)
B = The number of letters on the second line of text on the gravestone
C = According to the website, the number of his siblings that travelled with Rudolf to Britain in 1939
D = The number of vertical planks on the door on the north side of the church
E = The number of sides of the third stage of the tower (the clockface is on the second stage)
F = The number of letters in the word on the concrete post opposite the door in D (next to the hedge)
The sum of the cache coordinates is 42. The cache is a small loc-n-loc box a few minutes’ walk from the Church. It is located at waist height
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