This geocache has been placed at the same time as cache GCA50VA near Mormoulins, France. My colleague in France and I organise a French school exchange every year between England and France and wanted to place a geocache in France and in England to commemorate this collaboration and friendship between the two countries.
The church of St Mary the Virgin is a lovely Grade I listed building at the heart of the village of Newport (Essex) and can be seen from miles around. The walls of the chancel and north/south transepts were constructed in the 13th century, with other sections added continuously over the years. The impressive tower was rebuilt in 1858 with further restoration to the entire church in the same century. Restoration and conservation work continues in the present day.
The interior of the church has some interesting features, including a 13th century carved altar chest with oil paintings on the underside of the lid, which are said to be the earliest oil paintings on wood known to English art. There are also brasses from 1515 and 1608 and some lovely 14th century stained glass.
Information on church services can be found here.
To find the final co-ordinates for this geocache, you will need to collect five numbers using the clues below from the outside of the church building. At no point do you need to enter the church. Collecting the clues shouldn’t take longer than 5-10 minutes.
It is not possible to do this cache at night, as there is no lighting in the churchyard.
The final geocache is 2 minutes’ walk away from the churchyard. You are looking for a camouflaged bison tube.
Stage 1 (starting co-ordinates): N051° 59.069' E000° 12.779'
You start in front of the porch and main entrance to the church.
Look at the windows inside the porch. How many colours of glass make up these windows? The number of colours is A.
Stage 2: N051° 59.069' E000° 12.798'
Continue east along the church and look at the large south-facing wall with a small black door. There is a date on the drainpipes here. This date is 191B.
Stage 3: N051° 59.082' E000° 12.802'
Walk around to the north side of the church to find the small extension to the main building of the church. The north facing wall of this extension has a single window in the right of it. How many individual panes of glass make up the lower portion of this window? This number is C.
Stage 4: N051° 59.089' E000° 12.780'
Continue west along the side of the church and look at the side wall above the north aisle. How many face statues are there along the top of this wall? This number is D.
Stage 5: N051° 59.074' E000° 12.768'
Continue further around the church. Our final stop is the south side of the tower. How many arrow slit windows are there going up the south side of the tower? This number is E.
Final co-ordinates
The geocache is located at the following co-ordinates:
N051° DC.B(A*E)B'
E000° BA.(A+E)C(C-A)'
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 https://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html