This is a bonus cache for the Blackburn's Blue Plaques's 1 Adventure Lab. The published coordinates take you to a blue plaque where you will be able to find the information required to complete the full coordinates for the location of this cache.
If not done so already you will need to download the Adventure Lab app from Groundspeak to enable you to upload this Adventure.
Use your phone's native QR code scanner to open this adventure in the Adventure Lab mobile app, or share the following URL:
https://adventurelab.page.link/iX2m
Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)
In keeping with the theme of the AdLab, these coordinates take you to Northgate, where there is a plaque to recognise Niccolò Paganini. This great Italian violinist and composer stayed at The Paganini Inn, which was situated at 29 Northgate, on the corner of Higher Cockcroft. This was named after him following his stay at the inn (then called the Joiner’s Arms) when he played a recital on 5th September 1833. This building has now been demolished.
Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, Italy, Oct 27, 1782 and is considered by many to be one of the greatest violinists of all time. The young musician first received lessons from his father and later from the most reputable teachers in Genoa. In 1801 Paganini travelled to Lucca in Tuscany and in 1805 he was appointed to the position of court solo violinist by Napoleon's sister Elisa Bacciocchi.
After four years in Lucca, Paganini left the court and began performing his own music at concerts throughout Italy. It was not until 1828 that Paganini made his first professional appearances outside Italy when he embarked on a six-and-a-half year tour that started in Vienna and ended in Paris in September 1834. Stories of Paganini's performances are legendary, with audiences said to have been moved to tears and hysteria. His astonishing technical ability led many to believe that his mother had sold his soul to the devil in return for a career as the greatest virtuoso in the world.
Paganini garnered great personal wealth but he was known for his excessive gambling that at one point forced him to pawn his own violin. By the mid-1830s Paganini's health and ability began to fail and he died in May 1840 from internal hemorrhaging before a priest could be summoned. This added to suspicions that he had entered a pact with the devil and the Church denied his body a Catholic burial in Genoa. It was not until 1876 that his remains were finally laid to rest in a cemetery in Parma.
THE BONUS CACHE:
At the location of the blue plaque there is a building next door with a number of arched windows. The number of arches will provide you with X.
Having obtained the Westings from the AdLab, the Northings are:
N 53° 44.(X+5)0X'
The container is a small micro, tweezers are recommended to remove the log which needs to be signed in order to claim the find. Happy caching!!
Across the road from GZ is a building which has some history which makes interesting reading on the nearby information plaques.