The Lost Medieval Village of Lower Barpham Traditional Cache
magic mushroom: I visited the cache and have removed it. As previously logged it is in a bad state and the hiding place has filled up with detritus.
The Lost Medieval Village of Lower Barpham
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Car parking can be found at either N50 50.482 W000 29.155 or N50 50.834 W000 29.673
The cache is a medium size tablock box containing the usual kind of swap items and is located just off the bridle way known locally as ‘Windy Ridge’ and has extensive views of the Southdowns and overlooks the lost village of Lower Barpham.
The remains of the medieval village lie just to the west of Lower Barpham Farm (Map Ref. TQ 071 092) and is not readily discernable but some humps and lumps can be seen.
In 1348 the Black Death swept through the village and many hurried burials have been found, including several of children only a few inches below the surface near the site of the church which is up the hill from the village to the west of Upper Barpham Farm.
It can’t be certain that the plague caused the village to be abandoned as ancient records throw no light upon the matter and yield little information beyond the fact that, in about 1100, the village possessed a church which paid a pension to the great Priory of St. Pancras at Southover; and that, by 1523, this building, or its successor, no longer served its purpose, its emoluments being taken towards the foundation, in that year, of a prebend in Chichester Cathedral which still bears its name.
The church had fallen into decay before 1509 (although Rectors seem to have been appointed for some years after that time) and it later became a quarry for building materials which were transferred to the building of Upper Barpham farm-house in Elizabethan times.
The bridle way follows the 110m contour with a steep slope on its northern side and in parts quite narrow. It is popular with both mountain bikers and horse riders and can be very muddy in winter. So beware, if you see a horse and rider approaching please don’t hide in the bushes stay in full view so as not to spook the horse.
If you are lucky you may see the white fallow deer that live in the park, at the last count there were nine and deer can sometimes be seen in the valley bottom. Also in summer buzzards can be seen soaring on the uplift.
If you are heading south from this cache fork right off the road just after Upper Barpham Farm. Do not go down the private road as the gamekeeper may get a bit techy.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vafvqr gur zbff pbirerq ubevmbagny gerr gehax