Offham
The village gets its name from "Offa", the name of a Saxon landowner, and "ham", the Old English term for a village or homestead. This area has been occupied since Roman times, and the major Roman road from London to the Weald ran through the parish. Offham grew in prominence in the early ninth century under the Saxons. Many of the houses are built from Kentish Ragstone a hard grey limestone whiiich occurs in the geological sequence known as the Hythe Beds of the Lower Greensand.
The Quintain
The quintain, or tilting post, consists of a wooden post around eight feet in height with a freely rotating arm on the top, one end of the arm is flat (the "eye"), with the other used to attach heavy objects such as a leather pack or sandbag; its use is believed to date from Roman times. The word quintain probably has its roots in the Latin for “fifth” (Quintus) and may be connected to an area in a Roman camp where military exercises took place. It was designed to test the agility of horsemen during jousting practice, after striking the flat end they needed to ride off at speed to avoid being hit and knocked off their horse.
The post in Offham has stood at this spot for centuries but it was briefly relocated during World War II. In 1951, a stone and plaque explaining its history were unveiled as part of the Festival of Britain celebrations.
Stone Plaque
The descrption cut into the stone is:
"The pastime - a Roman exercise - was for the youth on horseback to run at is as fast as possible and hit the board part in the centre with much force. He that by chance hit it not at all was treated with loud peals of derision; He who did hit made the best use of his swiftness less he should have a sound blow on his neck from the bag of sand which instantly swung around from the other end of the quintain. The great design of this sport was to try the agility of both horse & man to break the board which whoever did he was accounted chief of the day's sport"
To claim the cache please take and upload a photograph showing yourself and the quintain; the picture does not need to show your face. A photograph of a piece of paper with your geocaching username written on it with the quintain in the background is also acceptable. The grass may prevent a wheelchair user getting very close to the quintain but providing it meets the requirement given above, taking a photgraph from the road, is acceptable.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.