St Athernase Church Multi-Cache
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Size: 
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Whilst researching for this cache I was amazed to find that this little Parish church is held in such high regard by people in the ‘know’
On a knoll in the centre of Leuchars stands St Athernase church which is one of the best preserved of the Romanesque parish churches in Scotland. It has been described as a wedding cake in stone, with the tower formed by a series of layers topped by an unusual pepper pot effect
Walking round the outside of the church you can clearly observe the distinction between the original Norman chancel and the apse, and the Victorian Romanesque nave extension.
Examine the exterior of the chancel and the apse. Notice the difference in the levels between the original and newer parts of the building, caused by the level of the graveyard being raised.
The de Quincy’s, local landowners and crusaders, were responsible for the completion of the church and you can still note the symbolic crosses decorating the sanctuary commemorating the crusades. Completed in 1185, it was neglected for many years after the Reformation and even used as a barn until its nineteenth century revival.
The nave was built in 1857-8 to designs by John Milne in a Romanesque Revival style and was initially not connected to the twelfth century building. It was altered in 1912 to draw ones eye to the tall chancel arch; then to the arch of the apse and finally to the small windows in the east end.
Even whilst walking round the outside you can see the amazing decoration of the exterior of the apse. Grotesque stone heads, some of which have been restored, featuring the bizarre and the barbaric, depicting horses, creatures and monsters, were put there to instil trembling in worshippers. They are not Christian, but belong to the Viking tradition and mythology. Similar work is found in other places dating around 1120-1150 and a little later.
If you get the chance to look inside the church there are many interesting features with small books priced at £1 to £2 on sale to explain them. Be sure to look in the chancel and apse for the masons marks on the stones. The group of builders who actually placed the stones made their mark on the stones they laid and were paid accordingly.
Few places in Scotland have a stronger sense of a direct link with Christian worship from a millennium before. Although the village of Leuchars has changed beyond recognition in this time the church, its graveyard and the enclosing wall still dominate .
Park at N56° 22.916 W 002° 53.008.
Alexander Dall died in Jamaica on the 8th September 1840 aged (A)5 years
James (shipmaster) perished at sea Feb 18(B)3 aged 23 years
Ann Thompson McIntosh died 6th December 18(C)0 aged 65 years
Alexander Tod’s (tenant of Cowbakie) wife died in 179(D)
Elizabeth Lawson died 31st May 18(E)7
Nathaniel Spens (Doctor of Medicine) died 21st June 181(F) aged 87 years
John Finch drowned with a crew of 5 in St Andrews Bay aged (H)5 years on the 28th Jan 184 (G)
Robert Ramsay died 16th August 1818 aged 1(I)
James Cunningham Smith died 26th March 181(J)
Susan Ranken, wife of the Rev D. Watson, died 2nd Dec 184(K)
Cache is at N56° AB.CDE W 002° F(G-H).IJK
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Oruvaq Eboreg Ovffrg
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