The Mad Geocaching Pensioner - Then and Now (Part 2)

As you fellow blog readers may have noticed, I love to combining geocaching with my love of history and photograph, so much so that our local newspaper ran my series called "Then & Now" for just over a year. Not for any financial gain may I cry being a poor pensioner, but just for a retirement hobby and the enjoyment for others. Below you can see an example of how it appeared in the newspaper.

Click on any photo to enlarge.

The church is just along from a cache that was in a private garden and in my article I noted the removal of the large pinnacles, a fact I knew well as my Brother-in-Law was the builder that had to remove them. Lets look at a couple more places that I found whilst out and about with my GPS, camera and history knowledge.

The Lawns. (GC2M2NZ.) The Lawns was a 9 bedroom Victorian mansion just behind the shop on the left of the old picture. It had servants, a kitchen garden and fabulous grounds with a pond where the cache is now placed, the mansion was pulled down in the 60's for road improvements - my pet hate !!

Everything on the right of the photo remains although your see that castellations have been added to the front of the house, note the bricked up window at the top which comes from a window tax imposed in 1696. If you couldn't afford the tax you bricked up a window. This was repealed in 1851 when it was argued it had become a health tax.

The old chemists shop was pulled down to be replaced by a monstrosity of a building that was used by the Ministry of Work and Pensions in the 60's, if you were unemployed this was the place you went to sign on for benefits . Today this building has laid derelict for some 20 years and there has been a local campaign to get it pulled down, at least the older buildings remain, which is good because my hairdresser's is down on the right in an old butchers shop. We wouldn't want to say "Hair today gone tomorrow", or have your hair butchered.

Termites in a Log (GCZ1X5). This cache is located in the village of Frampton-on-Severn, and as the name suggests is just yards from the great River Severn. The photo shows the village green which is said to be the longest village green in England, being about 22 acres in size. Cricket is played on The Green outside the Bell Inn, one of two pubs along its length, the other being The Three Horseshoes at the opposite end of the Green. The area around The Green has been designated a Conservation Area, with a range of Architecture spanning several centuries ranges from “ Cruck Cottages” to impressive Tudor and Georgian houses.

For years the village pond was used for bathing, or as the old photo states "Mixed Bathing" no less, disgusting. The scene is just like any beach photo, with ladies on a picnic blanket while the children paddle on the shore. There is even a horse and carriage in the middle of the bathing activities.

Today I wouldn't want to bathe in the pond that is full of water reeds and beautiful wildlife there were in fact three small children fishing but not catching any monsters. In the 17th century the green was known as Rosamund's Green, named after Rosamund Clifford who was born at Frampton Manor and was suggested was Henry II's mistress, lovingly known to him as Fair Rosamund. Whatever the history of the village if your a lover of geocaching in spendid nature and wildlife, this is the area.

I do hope you enjoy these short blogs on geocaching along with historical photographs, let me know I have many more to come.