ROODEE VIEW Traditional Geocache
Long Man: As the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache I am archiving it.
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Andy
The Long Man
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is an easy stroll from chester city centre, located near the base of Grosvenor Bridge. The location has many access points some steep and others flat.
Roodee, the "Sweet rood of Chester" (Gascoigne 1575)- whose curious name derives from the Saxon Rood- a cross or crucifix and the Norse suffix Eye- meaning an island, thus literally 'The Island of the Cross'. In Saxon times, the waters of the Dee covered the whole of this area with the exception of a small island upon which stood a stone cross, the stump of which you may still see in the middle of the racecourse today Tradition tells us that, around AD946, the cross was erected over a statue of the Virgin Mary, which floated to Chester up the river, having been ejected from Hawarden Church for falling on- and killing the wife of the governor of Hawarden Castle whilst she was at prayer asking for rain. He put the statue on trial for murder! She was convicted- also being found guilty of not answering her accusers- and condemned to be hanged. One juryman opposed that, saying that, as they wanted rain, it would be best to drown her. Another argued that, as she was 'Holy Rood', they had no right to kill her, but he suggested that they lay her on the sands on the river below Hawarden Castle, that God might do what he would with her. This they did, and the tide took her down river to Chester, where the inhabitants found her, "dead and drowned" upon which they buried her where she was found and raised over her a stone cross, which is said to have borne the following inscription:
The Jews their God did crucify,
The Hardener's theirs did drown,
Cause with their wants she'd not comply;
And lies under this cold ground.
Even earlier, in Roman times, the river, which was then much wider and deeper, flowed right up to what is now the base of the medieval city wall
Around 1615, the Roodee was described as "a very delightful meadow place, used for a cow pasture in the summertime; and all the year for a wholesome and pleasant walk by the side of the Dee, and for recreations of shooting, bowling and such other exercises as are performed at certain times by men; and by running horses in presence and view of the mayor of the city and his brethren
The Roodee covers an area of approximately 90 acres and the racecourse is something more than a mile in length. The co-ordinates are an average of four readings. Due to the terrain and tree cover the clue may be needed.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
va gur onfny tebjgu bs ynetr gerr ba rnfgrea pbeare bs cngu