Church Micro 14860 . . . Burley-in-Wharfedale
The cache, a small, camo-taped, screw-capped sample tube, is hidden near St Mary's (St Mary the Blessed Virgin), the Parish Church of Burley.
To Find the Cache:
Step 1 (the published coordinates): Having located a suitable place to park in the village such as on Back Lane @ or near N 53 54.711 W 1 44.450, make your way across to the church and up the access path to the west entrance at N 53 54.750 W 1 44.493. Here you will see that there are A lantern-style lights illuminating the portal.
Step 2: move around the corner into the northern graveyard where, standing @ N 53 54.755 W 1 44.468, you will be able to count B grilled windows along the side of the adjacent cottage wall.
Step 3: continue to the rear of the church and down into the Garden of Remembrance. Against the wall at N 53 54.745 W 1 44.453 there is a bench with a memorial plaque on which will be able to quickly calculate that David was 6C years old at his death.
Step 4: walk over to N 53 54.741 W 1 44.446 the location of a blue information board on a wooden pole. The alphanumeric (A=1 B=2 C=3 etc) value of the last letter of the last word on this = D
Step 5: head left N 53 54.745 W 1 44.445 to where you will be standing by the 1st memorial stone in the 1st row of the stones - that of the Beardmores. On it you will learn that John held a special position in this community. The alphanumeric value of the 3rd letter of this word = E
Step 6: retrace your steps out of the garden and walk over to N 53 54.746 W 1 44.459 by the rear (east) wall of the church, where there are a line of memorial plaques. The largest one, which is above the bench, commemorates a dedicated couple who served together in the C of E ministry for over F0 years.
Step 7: finally, head back around the front of the church and across to the small cross by the wall @ N 53 54.740 W 1 44.489 which commemorates a mother and daughter, Ann and Maria, who seemed to pass away on the same day. Looking carefully at the weathered inscription on its pedestal, you will find that their family name which begins with H has G letters.
The cache is hidden at:
N 53 54.(A+F)EG W 1 44.D(C-4)B
This fine building was Grade II listed in 1976, and the Historic England listing, which details its architectural features [with explanations], reads:
Consecrated 1843 after rebuilding. Chancel enlarged, gallery removed and other alterations 1870. Gothic revival of late Georgian style. Coursed rubble. Wide nave without aisles under single roof span with almost flat ceiling. Six tall lancets [tall narrow window with arched top] with dripmoulds on each side. West tower with flanking porches (lancet window and similar doorway to each). Gabled main west door. Lancet window on each exposed side of tower. Smaller upper stage with miniature flying buttresses from pinnacles [small spires] of lower stage with louvred lancets and pinnacles. Octagonal spire. Chancel has three-light east window and short lancets north and south. Steep-pitched arched wooden roof. Furnishing simple. Octagonal font of inlaid marble. Victorian stained glass in most windows. Wall memorial to William Maude (d 1588) dedicated 1781.
A ‘chapel of ease’ - a place of worship built for those who could not easily reach their parish church - stood on the site of St. Mary’s Parish Church in the C15. It was replaced by the Fairfax Chapel (named after 2 of the main benefactors, Lord Fairfax and Sir Thomas Fairfax) in the C17. The church register dates from 1774. In 1841 the Fairfax Chapel was pulled down and a new foundation stone laid.
Two years later the new church was opened and consecrated by the Bishop of Ripon. The church clock was set going on 22 December 1855. In 1856 the church became a parish church with Revd. Dr Charles Ingham Black installed as the first parish priest of the newly established Parish of Burley & Menston. A brass plaque records his 41 years of service and he is further remembered for penning the words to the Christmas carol ’Twas In The Cold Winter which is depicted in a memorial window.
Other stained glass windows recall some of the church’s earlier benefactors. Changes have been made to the church over the years. Gas lighting was introduced in 1858 and, following a fire in 1870, the church was renovated with donations from the owners of Greenholme Mills and of The Grange, Thomas Emsley.
In 1952 the stalls, pulpit, and altar rail were replaced with ones from the workshop of renowned Yorkshire furniture maker Robert ‘Mousey’ Thompson. One of his signature carved mice can be found in the choir stalls.
The Maude memorial tablet dedicated to a benefactor of the old chapel can be seen on the west wall inside the church. It had been in the old chapel and was lost until it was found in Burley Hall stables and restored.
The Church had a small organ in a gallery at the West End when it was built in 1843.
Then in 1870 when the Chancel was extended, a recess for a larger organ was built and the gallery was removed. This bigger and better instrument has been repaired on several occasions but in the 1990s it was beginning to show its age and due to a very generous donation by a stalwart choir member, it was fully restored.
See here for more info and photos relating to the church's history.
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