Chapter 2

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

Coin 1

Location : Robin Hood's Cave, near Walesby

Coin : Base of small tree over cave enterance

Number & Letter: N (from Conjure) & 3 (Position of N in Conjure)

Winner: Diane Farmer

The poem that Tallifer hears is called 'Lytell Geste' a poem about Robin Hood containing over 400 verses. The lines should read 'and by hym stode Lytell Johan', in the book however it reads 'and by a cayve stode Lytell Johnn' therefore 'a cayve' has been added. Next it says in the book 'and Maun the millers son' this should read 'and Much the millers son', Much has been replaced with Maun. Therefore we can see 'cave' and 'Maun' have been added, one of the rivers flowing through Nottingham is the River Maun, and on it's banks is Robin Hoods cave. We are told next to draw a line NNW 348 degrees. This line cuts through a place called Conjure Alders. This we know is correct as it tells us to 'look in the trick, not in the trees'. If we concentrate on the word Conjure (trick) we see that the line has intersected the letter N

OS Grid Ref 665 708

Coin 2

Location : Emett Time Fountain, Victoria Centre

Coin : Hidden with Coin 2 at Hemlock Stone

Number & Letter: R (from the word Spring) & 4 (From the 4 Seasons)

Winner: Tim Button

This location is found by using the following riddle:

Victor after Victor, I will tell,

A zone, well centred,

As spring goes by,

In signature, the city of day,

some of the words in the riddle can be replaced with the word 'time'. We know time is important as the text says 'it was time to move on, there was time to move through, there was time to seek.

The riddle then reads:

Time after Time, Time will tell,

Time zone, well Timed,

As Time goes by,

Time signature, the Time of day.

The old words when read out spell: Victor I A Centre (Victoria Centre) in city, which is the shopping centre where the fountain is located.

The poem then says

' how big is the family,

of the fifth untimely word,

which gives it's third'.

The fifth word that the word time has replaced is Spring. It's family are Summer,Autumn and Winter giving us the number 4 and it's third letter is R.

OS Grid Ref Map 129

Coin 3

Location : Village Well, Goatham

Coin : Hidden on ledge inside roof of well

Number & Letter: D (from the word Does) & 4 (From the word Moon)

Winner: Diane Farmer

The text mentions a man trying to fish the moon out of a pond using a rake. This is based on an old legend about the wise men of Goatham, who believed that the moon had falled into the pond, and tried to rake it out. In the story it says 'it was a ridiculous caper.' 'Per natationis'. Per natationis si Latin for 'with swimming'. However, the text states that 'prior to Latin, words were simple and easily understood.' If we look at the words before the Latin it is Caper, this in Latin Means GOAT. If we now look up HAM in Latin we can see it is PERNA which can be seen in PER NAtationis. Therefore we can get the word GOATHAM, giving us the location (Gotham is pronounced goatham). It says munin circled once before landing on a nutty stone. In the centre of Gotham is a well, in the middle of which is a hexagonal (looking like a nut from a nut and bolt) stone.

Rufus Pike, the character in the puzzle says to Tallifer ' Remember Tallifer you are as free as the wild hyacinth. Dear at the temples self so goes the number of letters'. The wild hyacinth is Bluebell, whos name in Latin is Endymion. Keats wrote a poem called 'Endymion' from which one of the lines reads ' Dear at the temples self so does the moon'. We can see that the word 'moon' has been changed to 'number of letters', if we count the number of letters in moon it is 4, and the word 'goes' has been changed to 'does' giving us the letter D.

OS Grid Ref 535 303

Coin 4

Location : Robin Hood's Hill, Oxton

Coin : Hidden in small tree at foot of hill

Number & Letter: L (from Shelley) & 1 (From date he died)

Winner: Stephen Parkes

In the illustration there is a pictue of a statue, this statue is of the greek god Apollo. Byron tells Tallifer 'Man is half dust, half deity, alike unfit to sink or soar.' The word deity means God/Goddess, and Lord Byron died in Greece. Therefore if we apply Geek gods to the riddle we can get the following solution to the riddle:

I am at the start of Marriage

The only pair in the Sea,

I am at the beginning of the Harvest,

And at the end of the War,

I am at the start of the Man and the middle of the Woman in Justice,

And I am the two tallest herdsmen of Prophecy.

Where am I?

Marriage - Hymen - H

Sea - Poseidon - O O

Harvest - Demeter - D

War - Ares - S

Justice (Man = He) - Themis - H

Justice (Woman = Mis) - Themis - I

Prophecy - Apollo - L L

Byron says to Tallifer, 'My good friend kept a secret letter at his heart on the day one week before he died'. Byrons good friend was the poet Shelley. The letter at his heart is L and he died on 8th June giving us 1.

OS Grid Ref 634 533

Coin 5

Location :Wollaton Church (Via Burton Joyce)

Coin : Hidden in crack in wall opposite Church

Number & Letter: A (from Burton Joyce) & 9 (From furlongs)

Winner: Diane Farmer

The church of St.Leonard, Wollaton, is found by combining Tallifer's resting point at Burton Joyce. This location is given by the two old ladies chatting on thier doorsteps, which is overheard by Tallifer. The old ladies say: 'They were a lovely couple' (Burt & Joyce). It's a terrible shame about what happened, the seperation and all that'. 'Yes. It's the thin blue line you know'. On the map the words Burton Joyce are divided (seperated) by the thin blue vertical grid line.

One old lady states that 'he's with another woman now and she's really happy (Joy)', and she also says that the relationship was 'right once'. The word 'Once' can be seen to the right of the grid line, and BURT and JOY to the left. Probably the biggest clue to Burton Joyce was the reference to the church...'No, thre's no point is there'. The church in Burton Joyce has no point on it's spire as it was blown off by lightning. If a straight line is drawn on the map from Tallifer's previous location 'Hood's Hill', through Burton Joyce Church, Tallifer's direction can be determined. At a certain point past the church the took a right turn (90 degrees), and pedalled for 63 furlongs.

The bocer Tallifer meets is called Benny Leonard, a famour US boxer. He tells Tallifer about his fighting record which is documented. In the illustration a church can clearly be seen. The scene is an actual view of the location. The first church 63 furlongs away is St.Leonards church (the boxers surname) in Wollaton. The boxer is stood opposite the church by a lamp post.

The number and letter can be found by what the boxer asks Tallifer. He asks him how many furlong he rode from his last stop before turning right. The 90 degree line back from Wollaton Church touched Tallifer's previous direction line from Hood's Hill, 9 furlongs south of Burton Joyce's Church. The letter can be found from what Benny states: 'It's a solemn promise (VOW) that starts the elision' (the beginning of elision is EL) this therefore gives us the word VOWEL, an elision is the omission of a vowel so therefore we are looking for a missing vowel. He then says 'when you (U) were there, I (I) was here so who was missing?' The missing vowel from BURTON JOYCE + I (was here) is A. Much of this is confirmed by Benney's statement of 'It's also the last one in my last name (Leonard).

OS Grid Ref 640 438

Coin 6

Location : The Hemlock Stone, Near Stapleford

Coin : Hidden in grass near Trig Pillar on same hill

Number & Letter: P (from April) & 5 (From letters in April)

Winner: Tim Button

The first small puzzle solved by Tallifer is a red herring:

'Her White Peacock, Aaron's Ruby, The Lost Ring, Sons by Lovers, Lake in Italy,

Nearby Don's Roof, The Plumed Town,

All of these are corrupted titles of D.H.Lawrence's works. They should read:

'The White Peacock, Aaron's Rod, The Lost Girl, Sons and Lovers, Twilight in Italy,

RawDon's Roof, The Plumed Serpent,

Both the incorrect and correct word spell out two peculiar fishy sentances:

HER / RUBY / RING / BY / LAKE / NEARY / TOWN

THE / ROD / GIRL / AND / TWILIGHT / RAW / SERPENT

The big clues to the actual location are as follows: In the bottom right hand corner of the illustration is an accurate representation of the plant 'Hemlock'. There is also a Hemlock tree (like a tall fir tree) in the background. The riddle gives one more clue to the word Hemlock;

'Without question I am without end' FEBRUARY (Y- Why?)

'Without water I am hurt' MARCH (C -Sea, HARM)

'Without distance I am double' APRIL (L - distance, PAIR)

'Without food I am nothing' MAY (YAM - no letters left)

'Without a beginning I am but one' JUNE (J - Une, one in French)

'Without a bird I am without sence' JULY (J -jay leaves ULY which makes nothing)

'Without you I am but a stone' AUGUST (U - Leaves AGUST)

AGUST in reverse (back in order) gives TSUGA which is Latin for HEMLOCK. D.H.Lawrence is also linked to the Hemlock Stone because it is mentioned in the novel Sons and Lovers.

The number and letter can be found by what D.H.Lawrence says to Tallifer;

'Only one woman knows the letter Tallifer, be warned for without it she is deceitful,wild and complains vigorously. Do you know how many letters she has?'. The woman is APRIL and the letter is P without which you can make the words LIAR (deceitful), LAIR (wild animals den) and RAIL (to complain vigorously).

OS Grid Ref 498 387

Coin 7

Location : St Gile's Church, Holme

Coin : Hidden below large tree to right of Church

Number & Letter: S (from Scott) & 7 (From coats of arms)

Winner: Shena Way

The first paragraph mentions a frail old lady seen on the riverbank by Tallifer and his young lady friend. The old woman is Nan Scott. She locked herself in a small room above the main enterance to St.Giles church to avoid the Plague. The pieces in the picture indicate chess with the squares on the map would serve as a chessboard. The young girl describes a series of moves to Tallifer, and locating the start point is vital to end up at Holme. The girl begins:

'After the terrible disaster the King called that frail old lady to a nearby spinney where he stayed'

Another word for spinney is GROVE. Grove is a town in Nottinghamshire and can be found on map 120 (grid reference 738 797) and so this is the start location.

'The rook led her to the Queen where he found a suitable copse to build a nest'.

By moving as a rook would move on a chessboard i.e. horizontally or vertically, we can see there is a place called CROW HOLT (a holt is another name for copse) two squares to the right.

'The Queen fell and had to stop, but took her to the first tower she came to'.

The Queen moved vertically down (fell) 14 squares to OSSINGTON CHURCH (the first with a tower)

'The Bishop led her to a tower amid three springs, and the Knight dropped her right here'.

The Bishop moved four squares diagonally south-east to the church at CROMWELL (Well = spring) the other two 'springs' are CROMWELL MOOR and CROMWELL LOCK (all written on the map). Finally the Knight 'dropped' her 'right' here, means that as a knight would move, you drop two squares, then move one to the right. This lands on the square containing HOLME CHURCH.

The number and letter are pointed out in the line 'Discover the first letter of that dear lady's surname, and note how many coats hang on her wall'. Over the door of St.Giles Church are carved 7 coats of arms, and the first letter of her surname is S.

OS Grid Ref 803 591

Coin 8

Location : The Jockey Stone

Coin : Hidden at the base of the stone

Number & Letter: E (from the word Eight) & 8 (From clause in Magna Carta)

Winner: James Geary

The dying man is King John who is probably most famous for signing the Magna Carta in 1215. The clue in the text that points to King John is he was supposedly poisoned at Swineshead (Swines head in a basket). By using the riddle supplied by King John in conjunction with the Magna Carta's clauses, both the whereabouts of the coin, and the letter and number can be found as follows:

(6) Heirs shall be the letter beginning,

(8) No widow shall be the number in line,

(7) A widow shall have two shows both needed,

(7) A widow shall have to finish the rhyme,

(6) Heirs shall be required to see

(7) A widow shall have this County Key

King John states that 'riddles may have double meanings'. This can be seen on the fact that each line of the riddle can be divided into two, the first half of each being lifted directly from certain clauses in the Magna Carta. These clauses are numbered. The Encyclopedia Britannica has a full copy of the Magna Carta showing numbers. Each of the clauses used in the riddle gives us a six figure grid reference 687 767. This grid reference lands on a cross roads by JOCKEY HOUSE. This is the 'dwelling (house) on matters equestrian (concerning horses)'. Outside this house is a stone called the JOCKEY STONE which is where Munin was. The letter and number can be found by studying the second halves of the riddle lines. 'The letter beginning the number in line two...' The Magna Carta clause number in line two is 8 and the letter beginning eight is E.

OS Grid Ref 687 767

Nottinghamshire Lute Key

Location : Blackford Bridge

Winner: Paul Harkin

We now have the following sets of letters and numbers:

3 4 4 1 9 5 7 8

N R D L A P S E

If we re-arrange these letters we can get the word

S P A N D R E L

7 5 9 3 4 4 8 1

This now gives us an eight figure grid reference that lands on Blackford Bridge south-east of Flintham. The key was hidden in a hole in the south-west
spandrel of the bridge.