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(regular)
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Located at Roche Abbey, easy access to the cache location, hard paths, could be a bit muddy after rain.The road to the car park is closed at 6.30pm, but there are many other ways in - although they may be a little longer.
There are few surviving documentary sources for Roche Abbey, for many of the abbey's muniments, stored in a chest in St Mary's Tower, York, were lost or destroyed during the Civil War siege of York in June 1644, when the Parlamentarians blasted the tower.(1) Fortunately, several seventeenth-century antiquaries had already transcribed some of the documents from the various religious houses; others survived the blast and are preserved in later copies
The history of Roche Abbey, Yorkshire, expands from the foundation of the house in 1147 until its dissolution in 1538. Roche is today one of the less well known Cistercian abbeys and there are no exceptional personalities associated with the community.
Roche was a joint foundation by Richard de Busli, lord of Maltby, and Richard FitzTurgis, lord of Hooten, and was in this respect rather unusual. Otherwise, the abbey's development was in many ways similar to that of other Cistercian abbeys in the county - a period of growth and consolidation with its highs and lows was followed by a gradual decline.
Little remains of the buildings at Roche and there are few surviving documentary sources. Aerial photography of the site, however, reveals an almost complete outline of the precinct, and a remarkable account of the spoliation of the abbey in the sixteenth century provides a vivid insight to the fate of the abbey after the Dissolution.
Roche Abbey is situated in the valley of the Maltby Beck, around nine miles from Doncaster and thirteen miles from modern Sheffield. The site was enclosed by steep limestone cliffs and bordered on Bruneswald, later known as Sherwood Forest. This was a choice location for the monks: it provided privacy and solitude, as well as vital natural resources - water, woodland and stone. Whilst the setting was solitary, it was not remote.
It was close to several thoroughfares, within a few miles of the River Trent, and near to the castles of Tickhill and Conisbrough.The magnesium limestone cliffs that bounded the abbey on the north afforded shelter, and also an identity, for the community took their name from these rocky surroundings: the monks of St Mary of the Rock (Roche). Woodland to the east provided timber and fuel, as well as pannage for the pigs. The Maltby Beck supplied water, an essential resource for the daily functioning of a self-sufficient community. Stone channels directed water through the precincts; it flowed from west to east, bisecting the site: the church, cloister and inner court lay to the north of the Beck; the abbot’s lodgings, infirmary and outer court to the south.
Water was needed for a multiplicity of functions: drainage, cooking, washing, the cultivation of crops and the powering of mills; it was also used for liturgical purposes. The nearby quarries provided a ready supply of high-quality stone, which was easy to work with and durable. Contemporaries admired the fine masonry at Roche, and stone from here was transported for use elsewhere, including Sheffield Castle and Windsor Castle. ‘Roche Abbey Stone’ is still quarried from here and considered a superior stone.
Cache is a normal tupperware box containing:
Childs T shirt.
Golf ball (new).
Yo yo key ring.
Luggage strap.
Teddy bear.
Hand and body lotion.
Playing cards.
highlighter pen.
The cache is called Alice's Cache because today would have been my mothers birthday.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lrj zvtug yvxr gel gur byq jnyy