Berkhamsted Historic Georamble Multi-Cache

The cache is based around co-ordinates in the historic market town of Berkhamsted, which nestles in the River Bulborne valley at the base of the Chiltern Hills. The valley has been part of the best route from London to the North West since Roman times, and as local geocachers know, the A41 forms a natural geocachers highway, providing handy access to many excellent local caches nearby. Throughout the georamble you will have to gather numeric clues that will lead you to the final cache, using the usual basic maths. As there are quite a few numbers to gather, we have included a handy table to fill in at the bottom of the description.

The coordinates given will take you to a free car park, where you can stay for 4 hours, not that the cache should take this long!

Your first task will be to find the site where the Saxons finally capitulated to the advancing army of William the Conquerer after the Battle of Hastings, but in order to do this you will first have to visit 3 locations along the Grand Union Canal.

The Grand Union Canal runs through the heart of the town. The canal was built by the ‘Canal Duke’ of Bridgewater, who lived in nearby Ashridge, and was opened in 1798. It soon became an important artery for carrying goods and it continued to be used as a trade route until the early 1960’s. Now the towpath has been upgraded as a national footpath (buggy and wheelchair friendly) and it makes a pleasant stroll.

N 51° 45.758 W 000° 34.032 - In what year did Lord Brownlow enclose the common? 1ABC

N 51° 45.740 W 000° 33.863 - What is the distance to Birmingham in miles? 165Km, DEF Miles

N 51° 45.766 W 000° 33.675 - In what year did John Arthur Cotton die? GEEF

When you have completed the answers insert then into the coordinates below

N 51 45.AEE W 000° FF.B(A-G-G)(C+D+D)

When you have reached the town’s most famous landmark you will need to find out when it was begun

1HII

and when it was ruined

JKLM

in order for you to find an item of footwear at the coordinates below

N 51° K(J+K).(I+J)HL W 000° 3(K-J).IJ(M-J)

Take note - The item of footwear is dated NOPQ

Now find the structure located at

N 51° 45.588 W 000° 33.677

near to the 13th Century St Peter’s church, which is one of the largest parish churches in the country and contains an interesting collection of brasses and also many tombs and memorials to former residents including the stained glass window commemorating the life of William Cowper the poet, who was born in Berkhamsted

On the base of the structure, find a date written in Roman Numerals, convert the numerals into a regular date to give you

NRPR

You now have the information to get to the home of a John Incent, Dean of St Paul's Cathedral from 1540 and founder of the world famous Berkhamsted School, later attended by the author Graham Greene, arguably Berkhamsted’s most famous son.

N 51° 4(Q-P).Q(O+N)N W 000° 33.(R-N-N)(Q+N)O

Take note - Dean Incent’s home has a date

STUU

Now you need to find a former home of a wartime Prime Minister’s wife located at

N 51° 45.549 W 000° 33.643

What number on the Berkhamsted Heritage Walk is this location – written on the plaque ?

VW

Your final location is a charitable structure to be found at

N 51° (T-S)T.(T+S)8(Wx4) W 000° (V+W)4.U6(Tx2-W)

Here, get the obvious date, which is – X6YZ

You can now use the numbers you have gathered throughout the georamble to work out the co-ordinates of the final cache.

N51° KC.(T+W)FP W000° (B-F)(O/G).(X+Y)(N+Z)Q

The cache is in a particularly busy spot, so you will have to be very aware of the very distinct possibility of your being seen. Please take care when approaching and re-hiding the cache. We did want to hide it in Berkhamsted itself though and not just nearby.

A big thanks to Bekandian who are keeping a propietorial eye over our cache, as it's tantamount to being placed in their garden!