The present church at Smalley was built in 1794, though the village did not become a parish in its own right until 1877. That said, Anglo Saxon and Norman religious finds in the area of the churchyard suggest that there was a place of worship here much earlier than that.
To solve this multicache, you will need to visit four places within the churchyard.
- The first headstone on the right, as you approach from the main road, is a Commonwealth War Grave for Private A Fletcher. Notice the particularly poignant date on which he died.
- Just behind this is the distinctive brown tomb of the Rev Charles Kerry. He was Smalley-born, and a significant local historian of his day. He was also a major benefactor to the church. Be careful here, for the writing on the tomb is all in Latin, so you won’t see the word “Charles” there. Opposite the tomb are the remains of the old yew tree which has been dated to around the time of the Norman conquest.
- The church tower. This was a late addition to the church, for the Rev. Kerry bequeathed to Smalley church the heaviest set of five bells in the country. Up until then Smalley only had a small gable to hang a small bell, so the tower had to be specially constructed just to accommodate the bells.
- The gravestone of Job Turton, which you will find against the west wall of the church, between the tower and the entrance porch.
The cache can be found at N52 59.ABC W001 23.XYZ, where:
A = the last digit of Private Fletcher’s service number,
B = the number of bells illustrated on Charles Kerry’s tomb,
C = Job Turton died on November 2C.
X = the number of candles illustrated on Charles Kerry’s tomb, plus the final digit of the year the tower foundation stone was laid,
Y = the third digit in Private Fletcher’s service number multiplied by the fifth digit,
Z = the number of angels depicted on Charles Kerry’s tomb.
The checksum for the six calculated numbers is 30.
This cache replaces a previous multi cache which was archived in 2021. That was the first multi cache I ever did, back in 2016, and the final location for this is in the same general area, as I liked it so much!
****************** ********************
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.
****************** *******************