Whilst Newbury was given its charter only just over 400 years ago, its history goes back to Roman times,
although, as a town, it probably dates back a mere 1000 years!
Take a look at
http://www.newbury-society.org.uk/newbury_history.html for details of the town's history.
This multicache will take you through Newbury's main shopping areas - on the way, you'll be looking
for various bits of history, which when "added together" will take you to the final physical cache.
Whilst the multicache trail starts by the canal, adjacent to the new library building (if only because there
is parking, and it's a nice place to start!) you can seek the clues in any order you like! You'll find toilets
both by the car park near the first clue, as well as at N51 24.141 W001 19.512 (which is down a side-street,
in a multi-story car park, later in the walk).
Victoria Park is on the other side of the canal from the first clue, where you'll find a kiddies playground, a good skating / biking area, and a refreshments kiosk.
The cache trail is something like 600 or 700 metres (and the same back again), and -
apart from perhaps pulling the actual cache from its hiding location - is wheelchair &
pushchair accessible. As far as refreshments go, you will pass several cafes and pubs along the route!
If you like shopping, don't forget the Kennett Centre, at approx N51 24.018 W001 19.447: plenty more shops in there!
You can download a GPX file that contains both the details for this cache, along with the 13 waypoints for the clue locations from HERE (right-click the link and 'save target as').
OK, here's the clues.... work out the missing digits, then use the "calculation" down the bottom to find the cache.
Good luck!
1: N51 24.124 W001 19.244: There is a re-erected item here, which can lift a maximum of 'a' tons.
2: N51 24.074 W001 19.358: This "Ancient Cloth Hall", now the Berkshire Museum, was repaired by public subscription in 'bbbb'
3: N51 24.046 W001 19.392: This large building used to be the Corn Exchange, but is now a Theatre with a bar - but the building was originally erected in 'cccc'
4: N51 24.078 W001 19.418: Number 32 is now a café, but the earlier business, Beynon's Ltd, was established in 'dddd'
5: N51 24.068 W001 19.419: the Queen came to Newbury, to commemorate it's 400th year, on 'ee'th October, 1966
(Between this and the next clue, you'll see two identical fairly large grey signs, low down on the wall - just for fun, what is prohibited in Mansion House Street?)
5a: N51 24.070 W001 19.428: (this clue replaces the original "clue 10") The previous building on this site extended a further 16 feet into the road: it was built a LONG time ago, but was demolished about a century ago. But what was the exact year? it was 190m.
6: N51 24.072 W001 19.437: You're looking for a biblical reference here - it's from St John chapter 'g' (convert the roman numeral to a number)
7: N51 24.053 W001 19.516: To the rear of St Nicholas C of E church, you will find that Sophia was 'hh' years old when she died
8: N51 24.028 W001 19.472: Look up to find that 'i' dragons help guard this building!
9: N51 24.102 W001 19.458: My mortgage is with this organisation, which was founded in 'jjjj', and is at number 'kkk'b.
10: N51 24.141 W001 19.454: Due to the rebuilding work, I've replaced this clue with Clue 5a. However, while you're here, let me just say that Camp Hobson is Newbury's own department store, with a suitably long history.
11: N51 24.174 W001 19.545: The United Reform Church may be hidden away from view, but if you follow your GPS, you should easily find the grave of "Ann, daughter of Richard & Hannah Deacon" - she died on 'nn'th July 1842
12: N51 24.276 W001 19.520: Another gravestone, but this time at the Methodist Church! Charlotte and her son, John died on the same day. She was 'pp' years old, he was only 'q' months old. (Its interesting to note that John's surname is NOT the same as his father's!)
13: N51 24.331 W001 19.495: Keep an eye open for any traffic: This large item has both 3 sides and 6 sides, all at the same time. It was a gift to the town from James Henry Godding, in 'rrrr'
To find the final cache, you need to do a bit of calculating... the number of letters in all cases give the digits
(example: if a=6, bb=13, then 'AA = a + bb' gives AA = 19)
(1) add together the 5 years: AAAA = bbbb + cccc + dddd + jjjj + rrrr
(2) BB = nn - q
(3) CDDD = AAAA + BB (ie we're only going to use the last 3 digits of the answer)
(4) EE = a + hh
(5) FF = ee - 1
(6) GGG = (kkk * (g + i)) + (m * 2)
The cache is at N 51º FF.DDD, W 001º EE.GGG
The cache is a large ammo box, hidden, with permission, in the garden undergrowth at the place where I work. It is easily accessible from the public pavement / driveway, so you do NOT need to actually enter the main part of the property.
"Not very far away" you'll find a recently built supermarket, which includes a small cafe.
PS: note for Paul G0TLG... there should be no mud at all on this one!!!!
If you would like to have a say in the future of caching in the UK,
please visit the Geocaching Association of Great Britain