It was the Priory that created the borough on Sutton Pool which became known as Plymouth. The priests established and served a chapel below Plympton Castle dedicated to St. Maurice, a Christian Centurion who was martyred in the year 290 for refusing to sacrifice to the pagan gods. With the growth of Plympton, the chapel became the parish church, and its dedication was changed to St. Thomas of Canterbury in 1170. John Brackley, a Member of Parliament in 1382, paid for a small chapel on the south side dedicated to St. Maurice. The dedication of the church reverted to St. Maurice in 1538, the year before the destruction of Plympton Priory at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. There is a small statue of St. Thomas outside the church above the north door, placed there in 1859. Inside the church, on the north wall is an alabaster monument in memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds, unveiled in 1904 and there is a memorial to his father, Samuel Reynolds, beneath the tower. Their very close friends, the Mudges, are commemorated by the west window of the north aisle. There is a full peal of eight bells. Outside the south door stands a stone cross, dating from about 1380. While making alterations to the Guildhall in 1861, workmen discovered the shaft of the cross incorporated in a wall. It is thought that it had been placed there in the 1680s when the Guildhall was rebuilt. It was placed by the south porch of the Church in 1900. The churchyard was extended in the early years of the nineteenth century by the acquisition of adjacent gardens,
The cache is not at the given co-ordinates but you need to go there for some information.
At the given co-ordinates you should be standing at the gate of the church on Barbican Road. Enter the Church yard and follow the gravel path till you find Two Eleanor’s buried next to each other
- SACRED - Died ABth April 1852 aged C5
- IN MEMORY - Died 5th Feb 1856 aged 3D
Continue on the path to the church door and go up the steps to find an ornate cross of a naval captain
- How many hyphens in his surname (E)
- He Died Sept F1st 1921 aged GH
N50 EF.(C+1)A(D-3) W004 BE.(E+H)FG
**************************************
For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
*************************************
There is no pencil in this cache.
You will have to take your own writing implement if you wish to log a find.
