At Cumnor Place there
was the ghost of poor Amy Robsart, mysteriously murdered wife of
Robert Dudley, later Earl of Leicester, Elizabeth I’s favourite and
rumoured lover. The story goes that, running to greet her husband,
in 1560, she fell down the stairs and broke her neck. There were no
witnesses of this, for all the servants had conveniently been sent
off to Abingdon Fair. Rumour has it that Leicester had created a
concealed pit at the bottom of the staircase, hoping that Amy’s
death would leave him free to marry the Queen; but the appearance
of her ghost on the stairs was taken as a sign that the fall was no
accident and the monarch dropped him like a hot brick. It seems
that nine parsons from Oxford attempted to lay the unquiet spirit
in a nearby pond but were unable to do so and it has been said that
the water in the pond, thence called ‘Lady Dudley’s Pond,’ never
froze again. The terrible noises which used to be heard at night
kept the house untenanted until, decayed and deserted, it more or
less fell to bits and was finally taken down in 1810. The ghost of
the beautiful Amy may have since found rest, though occasionally
she is said to still be seen on the site of the old
house.
The above
co-ordinates are not for the cache, but are just a central location
in the village.
To find this cache you
will need to visit the locations at the co-ordinates listed below
and collect the numbers as detailed in the clues and insert them in
to the following co-ordinate for the cache location:
51N
4F.E(B+2)(A-F) 001W 2E.FC(D-F)
These co-ordinates are
listed in no particular order, you will need to work out a route
around the village so a map will be helpfull.
-
51N 44.079
001W 20.074 - Memorial
On the side adjacent to the road you will find four dates, the
second being 191A.
-
51N 43.964
001W 20.439 - Club house
You will find a commemorative plaque, when was the building
officially opened 15 Oct
199B.
-
51N 43.887
001W 20.199 - Gate
How many horizontal bars on the gate? =
C.
-
51N 43.928
001W 19.855 - Post Box
This is postbox No OX
D93.
-
51N 44.056
001W 20.175 - Lady Dudley’s Pond
There does not seem to be much information or evidence as to
whether or not this pond is "Lady Dudley’s Pond", and there was in
the past other ponds in the village, long since gone. Perhaps it or
perhaps it isn't, just watch out for her ghost, the ducks certainly
didn't seem to be too spooked out.
There is a sign on the telegraph post with two numbers, the first
is 1E0.
-
51N 44.038
001W 20.015 - Cumnor Place
Cumnor Place was demolished nearly 200 years ago, and therefore
there is little more than this fireplace left to show of its
existence.
In front of this fireplace you will find the grave of Thomas Henry
Taylor, in which year did he die
195F?
The
cache is now a 1.5 l Tupperware type container painted black, which
had the following in it when replaced:
- Lettering stencil
- Light-up cat pen
- Electric socket
protector
- Squirrel necklace
- Shark tooth golf tee
- Wallace & Grommet
- Badge
- Mr & Mrs Gingerbread
cutter
Hope you
enjoy the cache
Whilst here
why not visit our
Chester's Oxford Parks Quest series
or Simply Paul's
GCJCRZ - Steaming Mires
or The Wombles
GCA500 - Dreaming Spires
As my employer has decided that it would be a good idea to
move the whole organisation to Bristol, the Phillimore's (Mad H@ter
and Muddy Legs) will be moving on to pastures new and some fresh
caches. Unfortunately this will mean that it will become difficult
for us to maintain our Oxfordshire caches, so we will therefore be
gradually archiving the majority of them. We shall start our
program of collecting the caches and archiving them in the new
year, but as we have one or two caches out there this will not be a
five minute program! If you would particularly like to find this
cache before it is archived please get in touch and we will try and
hold off archiving it.