The village of Clifton Hampden lies
on the north bank of the River Thames at a crossing point served by
a ferry and subsequently by a bridge. Physically, the village has
changed very little over the centuries and its name the "enclosure
on a cliff" is of Anglo-Saxon origin. In 1726 the village was
purchased from the Dunch family by Robert Hucks, a London brewer
and M.P. for Abingdon and by 1842 it had passed to George Henry
Gibbs. The church had recently been completely renovated and
cottages rebuilt. The village had three farmhouses and three inns.
Later, in 1864, the bridge, as the Manor and the Church had been,
was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. The Village Hall was to be built
in 1896 to commemorate the elevation of Henry Hucks Gibbs to the
peerage as Lord Aldenham. The given co-ords will give you a good
starting point for completing this multi-cache and plenty of free
car parking.
The Barley Mow - N 51° 39.228 W
001° 12.534
This pub is popular with locals, visitors and those who sail on the
river Thames which washes, and sometimes covers, the bank side
garden. Jerome K. Jerome, who is buried in nearby Ewelme, ensured
that the Barley Mow remains in one’s mind. He wrote about staying
here in his book Three Men in a Boat and should you wish to stay in
the inn then you may just be given the Jerome Room.
Round Clifton
Hampden, itself a wonderfully pretty village, old-fashioned,
peaceful, and dainty with flowers, the river scenery is rich and
beautiful.
If you stay the night on land at Clifton, you cannot do better
than put up at the "Barley Mow." It is, without exception, I should
say, the quaintest, most old-world inn up the river. It stands on
the right of the bridge, quite away from the village. Its
low-pitched gables and thatched roof and latticed windows give it
quite a story-book appearance, while inside it is even still more
once-upon-a-timeyfied…
1889: Jerome K Jerome
This pub is also significant for The
Phillimore Clan as this is where it all started; it is where we
(Sue & John) had our first date :-).
On the front of
the pub you will see the date that it was built, this is
1A52
Clifton Hampden Bridge - N 51°
39.284 W 001° 12.600
Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), who also designed
the Albert Memorial and the General Infirmary at Leeds, the bridge
was built in 1867 for the Lord of the Manor, and later the first
Lord Aldenham by Richard Casey using local bricks. Please be
careful when crossing this bridge with children or dogs as the
footpath is very narrow!
This bridge is
supported on B piers.
Lord Aldenham memorial - N 51°
39.351 W 001° 12.629
St Michael and All Angels Church sits high above the village on the
sandstone cliff which gives the village its name. The church has
its origins in the 13th century, but was heavily restored and
rebuilt in the 19th century by Sir George Gilbert Scott for G H
Gibbs (Lord Aldenham), Lord of the Manor.
On the base of the
memorial you will find an inscription with the year
19C7
Lych Gate - N 51° 39.372 W 001°
12.598
Continue on past the church, through the churchyard and on to the
wooden Lych Gate.
This was restored
in 1919 in memory of the church warden HR Boyce and again in 19D5
in memory of Sheila Bion.
Village Shop - N 51° 39.362 W 001°
12.635
Below the church you will find the village shop, well worth a visit
to take on refreshments.
You will see a
round window with E panes of glass.
Village Hall - 51° 39.406 W 001°
12.688
The Village Hall was to be built to commemorate the elevation of
Henry Hucks Gibbs to the peerage as Lord Aldenham. More recently
the rock group Radiohead used the village hall as a practice room
whilst they were at school in nearby Abingdon.
On the wall you
will see a plaque to commemorate the building of the hall in
1F96
You should now have a nice collection
of numbers to transpose into the formula below in the time honoured
way.
N
51° 39.DCB W 001° 12.FA(E-A)
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.