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Oranges and Lemons - OK002C
Owner: The Hornet
Please log in to see the coordinates.
Altitude: 35 m. ASL.
 Region: United Kingdom (UK) > Inner London - West
Cache type: Virtual
Size: No container
Status: Ready for Search
Time required: 6:00 h    Distance to travel: 7.00 km
Date hidden: 19-08-2009
Date created: 19-08-2009
Date published: 19-08-2009
Last modification: 19-08-2009
4x Found
0x Not found
0 notes
watchers 0 watchers
50 visitors
4 x rated
Rated as: Excellent
1 x recommended
This cache is recommended by: Amberel
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Description EN
Oranges and Lemons This cache started life as a multi on GC.COM but was archived as it didn't fit in with their requirements. It used to point to a physical cache but that kept getting muggled so I've resurrected it as a multi part virtual.

'Oranges and Lemons' is a well-known English Nursery Rhyme. Of unknown origin, it is possible that the children of London made up the words to fit the rhythm of the ringing bells.

Oranges and lemons
Say the bells of St Clements
You owe me five farthings
Say the bells of St Martins
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey
When I grow rich
Say the bells of Shoreditch
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney
I do not know
Says the great bell at Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head

The first six parts of this cache are based on the bells mentioned in the rhyme. The final part, which can be deduced once you have the data from the first six is related to the last line! The key to the location of the final location can be found at

N 51 AB.CDE, W 000 FG.HJK

A lot of background information including details of the churches mentioned can be found at the BBCi website.

You CAN do them in the same order as they are mentioned in the rhyme but this will use a lot of shoe leather/petrol so I suggest plotting a more logical sequence. The minimum travel distance is about 6 miles so I suggest you buy an all day Travelcard (Zones 1&2) and use the tube/bus network. The final cache is some way from the virtual ones although you might pass reasonably close depending on the route you take!. 

Question 1: Oranges and Lemons

N 51° 30.666 W 000° 05.222 (WGS-84) 

Bells of St Clements

St Clements, Eastcheap, is a small church, only 64 feet long and 40 feet wide, and stands huddled between two office blocks. There has been a church on the site since the 11th Century; the present one is the third to be standing on the site. The original church was demolished in the 15th Century, and the second was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in 1687.

The church stands in St Clements Lane, in fact, the name of the street comes from the church. It was previously known as Eastcheap. The rhyme begins with this church because when the Thames was wider than it is today, the wharf where the citrus fruit cargoes from the Mediterranean were delivered lay just across the street. It is said the church bells pealed when a cargo arrived.

High up you will see a notice that says "FP Jft. Make a note of Jfor the final cache.

Question 2: You owe me five farthings

N 51° 30.651 W 000° 05.266 (WGS-84)

Bells of St Martins

St Martin Orgar church, near Cannon Street, lost its congregation to St Clements church after the body of the church was destroyed in the Great Fire. In 1670 the parish was officially united with the parish of St Clements Eastcheap. The bell tower and part of the nave survived, and the church was rebuilt and used by French Protestants (Hugenots) until 1820, when all but the tower was pulled down. This was rebuilt in 1851 as a rectory for St Clements, and the old bell was rehung as a clock bell in a projecting clock. Now used as offices, it is in Martin Lane, a street that was once notorious for moneylenders.

On the clock mentioned above you will see a date 185G

Question 3: When will you pay me

N 51° 30.975 W 000° 06.124 (WGS-84)

Bells of Old Bailey

St Sepulchre-without-Newgate is the largest church in the city of London. Built around 1450, it was badly damaged in the Great Fire and was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in 1670-1. The historic tower holds the 12 bells of Old Bailey that were restored in 1985. They had been there since 1739, having replaced bells bought from the Priory Church of St Bartholomew in 1537.

Saint Sepulchre was not a person. The original Saxon church on this site was dedicated to the King of East Anglia - St Edmund the Martyr - and was called St Edmund-without-Newgate. At the time of the Crusades, the church became known as 'St Edmund and the Holy Sepulchre', and eventually became 'St Sepulchre' after the Holy Sepulchre of Christ in Jerusalem.

The church's tenor bell in the bell tower was rung on mornings when there was an execution in Newgate Prison (now the site of the more well-known Old Bailey - the Central Criminal Court). The church still has the 'Execution Bell' in a glass case. This is the hand bell that was rung for other services concerning condemned prisoners, including ringing it outside the condemned cell at midnight. Newgate Prison acquired its own bell in 1783, and the tenor bell was no longer used on execution mornings.

At the above co-ordinates you'll see an old fashioned refreshment device. When was it was REMOVED 186H

Nearby there is a plaque on the church wall. On it you will see that Ann Hill died E1Jan 18K7.

Question 4: When I grow rich

N 51° 31.625 W 000° 04.642 (WGS-84)

Bells of Shoreditch

St Leonard's church, on Kingsland Road, Shoreditch. Now part of the London Borough of Hackney, it was founded in the 12th Century. After collapsing during a service in 1716, the spire was rebuilt as a copy of St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside in the 1730s. The village whipping post and stocks are still in the churchyard.

The area was known for its great poverty. The 'five farthings' debt is centuries old, possibly from the Middle Ages.

The nearest tube station to this cache is Shoreditch or Old Street

At the above co-ordinates you'll see a a plaque on the church wall. On it you will see that Mrs Mary Belt died on 1 Oct 181F

Nearby at N 51 31.612, W 0 04.615 there is another plaque. How far away lies the body of Mr Marshall Purland? CAFeet.

Question 5: When will that be

N 51° 31.018 W 000° 02.527 (WGS-84)

Bells of Stepney

St Dunstan and All Saints Church in Stepney, was built in 952 AD by the Bishop of London St Dunstan, when the old wooden church that previously occupied the site was knocked down. At the time, it was dedicated to All Saints only, but St Dunstan was added in 1029 after he had been canonised. The present church dates from 1400, but the chancel dates from 200 years earlier, and the font is about 1000 years old.

The church has ten bells, the oldest of which was recast in 1385.

The nearest tube station to this cache is Stepney Green

Above the main door you will see a ship. How many masts does it have? The answer is D

Question 6: I do not know

N 51° 30.820 W 000° 05.646 (WGS-84)

Great bell at Bow

St Mary-le-Bow, in Cheapside, is also known as Bow Church. There has been a church on the site since 1070. During the 14th Century a curfew was rung on the Bow Bells every night at 9pm; probably the origin of the tradition that anyone born within hearing distance of Bow Bells ringing is a true Cockney.

Rebuilt from 1670 to 1682 by Sir Christopher Wren after it was destroyed during the Great Fire, the name comes from the architecture. There are bow arches in the Norman Crypt, which are repeated in the arches of the steeple. Eight bells were cast for the finished church. Bells were added over the years until it had 12. Destroyed again in 1941 during the blitz of World War II, only the steeple, with its dragon weathercock and two outer walls, were left standing. Restored between 1952 and 1962, the 12 bells were recast and rehung.

The BBC used the peal of these bells at the start of each broadcast to occupied Europe during World War II.

In the churchyard you will see a plaque to the poet John Milton who was born in Bread Street on 9th Dec 16B8

Here comes a Chopper

N 51 AB.CDE, W 000 FG.HJK

You should now have all the information you need to substitute the letters in the key to find the final location. At the final location, if you had visited a couple of hundred years ago things would have been VERY different, indeed you would now be in danger of drowning rather than in a pleasant small garden! To log the find the password you require is the town mentioned in the name of the neighbouring pub (just the one word town name). Enter the word all in UPPERCASE. To understand the significance of the location look up the history of the pub on http://www.pubs.com 

Good hunting!



Log entries: Found 4x Not found 0x Note 0x All entries