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Carlisle Cathedral is the second smallest of England's ancient cathedrals (which begs an honest question, to which I have yet to find a definitive answer…) and has a long and turbulent history. It started life as a Norman Priory Church in 1122, becoming a cathedral in 1133.
Its most significant feature is its nine-light Flowing Decorated east window of 1322, still containing medieval glass in its upper sections, forming a “glorious termination to the choir.” and regarded by many as having the finest tracery in England. Other notable features include figurative stone carving, a set of medieval choir stalls.
"Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC BY-SA 3.0"
The Cathedral lies within the Abbey precinct, a gated area off Castle Street. The precinct also encompasses the Fratry (or refectory) with its new extension, the Deanery, the Prior’s Tower, Bishop Smith’s Regisry and the Canons’ Houses. The Gatehouse leading to Abbey Street dates from 1528.
In 1133, Henry 1 formed the Diocese of which Carlisle was the centre. The area, close to the Scottish border, was unruly and the King wished to impose his authority. A Cathedral was a perfect symbol of his authority. Over the intervening 900 years Carlisle’s cathedral has seen dramatic changes in the life of the nation, reflecting the turbulent history of the Borderlands. Edward Ist held his parliament in Carlisle and lived and worshipped at the cathedral, shortly before his death at Burgh-by-Sands. Thankfully the cathedral is more peaceful nowadays.
There is loads more history available on line, or in the Cathedral Gift Shop. There is also a cafe within the grounds, where you could retreat to work out the final coordinates of this cache.
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In order to find the cache you need to visit six locations within the Cathedral grounds. Coordinates for the locations are given in the ‘additional waypoints’ section of this cache page, but it’s probably just as easy to wander round to you have found them all. At five of the locations is an information board, from which some information must be gleaned. Location 4 is a model of the Cathedral. Once you have the information put it into the formula below.
1. Cathedral Church. The number of letters in word before ‘occupation’ = A
2. Cloister. The number of small stars, minus 9. = B
3. Cathedral Precinct. The number of lines in the quote by St.Augustine. = C
4. Model of Cathedral. The third number in the year = D.
5. Fratry. Read the second paragraph were a number of roles the Fratry and Undercroft have had over the years are listed. Besides a Brewery and Library, how many other roles are mentioned? = E
6. Abbey Gatehouse. St.Augustine of (where?) Number of letters = F.
The cache will be found at
N54° 53.ABC’ W02° 56.DEF’
(Checker = 26)
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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
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