VS #0591a - Sutton
Originally, I didn't consider signs like these to be worthy of inclusion in the VS series, alongside their fancier counterparts. However, now that I know more about them, I realise their historical significance.
As part of the 1951 Festival of Britain celebrations, Bedford County Council – as was – wanted to fund five projects and the village signs was one of them. In addition, the council created a new county coat of arms, they bought Moot Hall and the village green in Elstow, bought and restored Stevington Windmill and planted 1,951 roadside trees across the county.
The signs were offered to villages at a subsidised cost of £10 (roughly £316 in today’s money) and were manufactured in the county council’s own workshop. 138 were initially made, although some are in better repair than others. Some (including this one) have an additional ‘hump’ feature to accommodate ‘best kept village’ badges.
The village sign has recently been located to this location from further west in the village.
As for Sutton, Sutton is a small hamlet of some 300 people, located in Bedfordshire near the towns of Potton, Sandy and Biggleswade. It comprises a church, school, public house, golf club and a village hall. The first written record of the village is its listing in the Domesday Book. Sutton Castle was built c1220, though now an oval motte is all that remains. Unusually, the castle is a long way from the village and church.[
Sutton was the birthplace of General John Burgoyne the British army officer, politician and dramatist best known for his role in the American War of Independence.
The Packhorse bridge is a small, double arch bridge beside the ford across Potton Brook, a tributary of the River Ivel. The bridge was built in the 14th or 15th century from local sandstone. It is thought to be the only surviving bridge of its type in Bedfordshire.
To find the cache, consider the building and sign almost directly behind the village sign.
Born March Ath BCDE; died February 3rd BCFG
Manufactured in Lancaster by William Atkinson & Sons from BJKL to BJKM
The cache is a 5ml magnetic tube located at:
North 52 06.(A+E) (C+D) (K+L) West 0 12.(A+B) (J-D-C) ((F/G)+(M/D))
Good Luck!
About Village Sign Caches
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This cache belongs to the Village Sign Series, a series of caches based on ornate signs that depict the heritage, history and culture of the villages that put them up (generally on the village green!).
The signs can be made of different materials from fibreglass to wood, from forged steel to stone. They can depict anything from local industry to historical events. The tradition probably started in Norfolk or Suffolk and has now spread across most of the country so we thought we would base a series on them!
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More information, bookmarks and statistics can be found at the Village Signs Website
If anybody would like to expand the Village Sign Series, please do.
I would ask that you request a number for your cache first at www.villagesignseries.co.uk
so we can keep track of the Village Sign numbers and names to avoid duplication.