Chiseldon Camp Cache ( Wiltshire ) Multi-Cache
Chiseldon Camp Cache ( Wiltshire )
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This cache takes you in and around the remains of Chiseldon Camp – a vast base for troops originally created at the beginning of the First World War. Terrain is flat and easy. Cache is fairly well hidden.
The co-ordinates above take you to a memorial stone with an inscription concerning the camp.
In line 3 of the inscription subtract the first date from the second to give a 2 digit number – add these together to get another 2 digit number - add these again and the final single digit is ‘a’
In line 9 of the inscription add the 2 digits together to give ‘b’
Then - a plus b minus 1 = ‘c’
Replace the letters in the following co-ords
N51°a0.16c, W001°ca.b6c which will then give you the location of the cache itself, which is located on the Sustrans Cycle Route 45 along the route of the old Midland & South Western Junction Railway, which served the Camp by way of a spur into it from the main line.
Parking for the actual cache itself is available at 51°30.672'N, 1°43.467'W.
The cache is a large ammo box.
Chiseldon Camp was opened in 1914.The situation adjacent to the Midland & South Western Junction Railway and within 5 miles of the GWR line at Swindon made an ideal location for gathering large numbers of troops together. Indeed, before the First World War the War Ministry held numerous training camps in the vicinity in the same way that they did further south on Salisbury Plain.
The war started in August 1914 and by that October a spur off the M&SWJ Railway running into the Camp was virtually complete. A firm in Devizes was awarded the contract to build 72 huts, each of which housed 32 men. A similar contract was then let to a Swindon firm to build a further 72 huts – optimistically within 1 month.
By April 1915 over 12,000 troops were based at the camp. The influx of so many soldiers had an enormous impact, particularly on Chiseldon, but also further afield in Swindon itself. Drink related problems became so bad that at one point the local council banned the sale of alcohol after 9:00pm.
Training exercises were varied; there was a rifle range to the east, under Liddington hill, troops carried out long marches in full dress and pack over the Marlborough Downs and to the south east a network of trenches was set up near Aldbourne so that men could practice ‘ handing over ‘, a difficult procedure on the battlefield, especially in darkness. Towards the end of the war Chiseldon Camp became a demobilisation centre, processing up to 10,000 men per day and also housed German prisoners of war. It was common to see parties of POWs under guard performing essential work in the area. The camp also housed POWs after the Second World War and Germans set to work on lock cleaning on the Kennet & Avon canal found their FWW predecessor’s names and regimental details carved into the brickwork below the water level.
After the war Chiseldon Camp was greatly reduced, but was taken into full time service again in 1939. As the memorial shows, the camp remained here until the 60s and one can still see many signs of its former presence.
This site has maps and photographs of the camp in its heyday – the maps are particularly interesting as they show the enormous scale of the camp (visit link)
The cache is stocked with various items including erasers, pencil sharpener, finger paints, highlighters, a comedy DVD and the Archers Encyclopaedia.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
10 srrg jrfg bs gur cngu oruvaq n gerr va fbzr ehooyr
Treasures
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