Lucrum

Chapter 5

LEICESTERSHIRE

Coin 1

Location : Bagworth Trig

Coin : Hidden by signpost near Trig

Number & Letter: A (from the word Battle) & I (word IN minus one)

Winner: Richard Gilbert

The riddle that is set by King Richard the Third is solved by use of the beads on the following picture. Jake, the fortune teller is clearly seen holding some beads that are the colours of the spectrum. A well known method of remembering the colours of the spectrum is a poem about Richard the Third, it reads:

Richard (Red) Of (Orange) York (Yellow) Gave (Green) Battle (Blue) In (Indigo) Vain (Violet)

If we apply each line of the riddle to the relevant word in this sentence, the location of the coin can clearly be seen :

My first is the first of my fifth - (Battle) - B

My second is the second of my seventh - (Vain) - A

My third is the first of my fourth - (Gave) - G

My fourth follows the first of my seventh - (Vain - plus a letter) - W

My fifth is the second of my third - (York) - O

My sixth is the first of my first - (Richard) - R

My seventh is the third of my fifth - (Battle) - T

My eighth is the fourth of my first - (Richard) - H

My ninth is the fourth of my fifth - (Battle) - T

My tenth is the third of my third - (York) - R

My eleventh is the third of my seventh - (Vain) - I

My twelfth is the first of my fourth - (Gave) - G

OS Grid Ref: 446 077

Coin 2

Location : Bilstone Gibbet

Coin : Hidden at the base of the gibbet

Number & Letter: Y (from Massey) & 1 (spelled from John Massey)

Winner: Shaun Whitehead

Jake, the fake fortune teller gives tallifer a mysterious insight into things yet to come, it begins:

'First you will find a birch tree, beside a frozen river of ice...' This passage contains 14 descriptions of specific Viking rune stones. If you identify the runes, and then translate them one by one into their modern day equivalent letter the location of the coin is spelt out:

Birch Tree - Berkana - B

River/Ice - Isa - I

Water - Laguz - L

Sun - Sowelu - S

Battle - Teiwaz - T

Separation - Othila - O

Need/Hardship - Nauthiz - N

Horse - Ehwaz - E

Partnership/Gift - Gebo - G

Standstill - Isa - I

Growth - Berkana - B

Horse - Ehwaz - E

Warrior - Teiwaz - T

OS Grid Ref: 362 045

Coin 3

Location : Braunston

Coin : Hidden at the foot of large lime tree in village

Number & Letter: D (from word Doe) & 0 (from word NIL spelt in song)

Winner: Shaun Whitehead

In the picture that accompanies the text has three musical notes, when played these are the first three notes of DOE-RE-ME from the song in the Sound of Music. If we write out this verse we can use it to extract letters that tell us the location of the coin:

Doe a deer a female deer

Ray a drop of golden sun

Me a name I call myself

Far a long long way to run

Sew a needle pulling thread

La a note to follow sew

Tea a drink with jam and bread

That will bring us back to doe

We can now use this to solve the clues given by the sun thus:

The first pair begin the last of the food (Bread) - BR

The same word in every line - A

Two more end the third of three letters - (sun is the third 3 letter word) UN

And the next begins it - (sun) S

After a long way you will find another word - TO

Finally you will see a letter before me - (sun) N

OS Grid Ref: 835 066

Coin 4

Location : Pickworth

Coin : Hidden at base of signpost near arch

Number & Letter: D (from Daisy) & 5 (from letters in Daisy)

Winner: Sandra Young

Tallifer meets Leicestershire's smallest man, Jeffrey Hudson, in Hallaton to celebrate the 'bottle kicking' festival. Jeffrey then leads Tallifer in a seemingly pointless game of blind man's buff. After correctly identifying two places, Tallifer is stumped by the last which he thinks is either the Magazine Gateway or the Jewry Wall, but he is wrong. However, these two places hold an important clue to what the elusive objects is. The Roman relic, the Jewry Wall has a couple of arched openings as does the Magazine Gateway. So it is safe to assume that Tallifer is feeling a stone arch. At the location Tallifer meets the poet John Clare. A little bit of research into John Clare will show that he has connections with the village of Pickworth, and that he worked at the Lime Kiln there. In the grounds of John Clare's cottage at Pickworth (private property), stands the Pickworth Arch. This is the final object Tallifer felt. The coin couldn't be hidden at the arch as it is private property, so it was as close as possible and was hidden at the signpost outside the cottage. The letter and number are from the word 'Daisy' in John's poem 'The Eternity of Nature,' which in the text of Treasure was replaced with the word 'flower'.

OS Grid Ref 990 138

Coin 5

Location : Wood at Bradgate Park

Coin : Hidden near opening in wall surrounding woods

Number & Letter: L (from Black Annis) & 1 ( letters from 'silver' and 'Boy')

Winner: James Geary

After leaving John Clare, Tallifer finds himself in a small wood. Folklore tales of the evil witch 'Black Annis' are well known in Leicestershire. The puzzle itself can only be resolved after some research and study of the Black Annis legend. It is written that she had connections with the Magpie (which she turned into in the story), a feather of which is held in Munin's beak on page 60. The following well known rhyme is also associated with Black Annis:

One for sorrow -1

Two for joy - 2

Three for a girl - 3

Four for a boy - 4

Five for silver - 5

Six for gold - 6

Seven for a secret never to be told - 7

In the text of the Black Annis tale in Treasure are certain words from the magpie rhyme. These are; SILVER (5), JOY (2), SILVER (5), SORROW (1), SORROW (1), JOY (2). These words give a grid reference of 525 112 which lands on a wood in Bradgate Park. The letter is found by using the same rhyme. It says 'Black Annis shares one with six'. Six in the rhyme is GOLD. The words GOLD and BLACK ANNIS have one letter in common the letter L. The number also uses the same rhyme, the text says ' you cannot take silver from the boy, so what can you do?' Of course you cannot take SILVER (5) from the BOY (4), but you can take the boy from silver (5 from 4 leaves 1).

OS Grid Ref 525 112

Coin 6

Location : Pilton Chapel & Beeby

Coin : Hidden in hole of tree next to well

Number & Letter: L & L (from Monopoly board) & 1 & 0 (From Monopoly board)

Winner: Shaun Whitehead

Tallifer meets Daniel Lambert, a well known 'heaviest man' from the county. As in the Cromwell adventure earlier in the book when the board game Cluedo was used, Tallifer again pops into the future to find out how this puzzle works. That alone should have been enough to suggest another board game. This time MONOPOLY is used.

Daniels personal description contains several Monopoly playing pieces. His little DOG, tiny BOOTs, IRONed suit, & TOP HAT. Later a BOAT (a steamer), and a CAR (a horse-less carriage) are mentioned. Daniel begins to tell Tallifer a strange tale, based around the Monopoly board.

I followed in my fathers footsteps

(his father was a gaoler, and obviously worked in a JAIL).

From there I took a steamer to the farthest place I could go

(The opposite corner of the board is a policeman)

Who pointed the way to the first place

( PICCADILLY is the next place in the direction the policeman points)

From which I had to take the first letter

(P)

I continued by horse-less carriage until I reached the third road

( WHITECHAPEL road is the third road found on the board from here)

From which I took the third, the last, and the fourth letters

(I,L,T)

Soon I reached a corner

(the corner containing the word GO)

From which I took the last

(O)

It was time to head back, but on my way I met a divine messenger

( The angel ISLINGTON)

Who gave me one letter from her heart

(N)

Therein lies the name of this place

PILTON

The numbers and letters are found by the following method. The sentence in the text says:

'when you know the answer, you will be able to work out precisely
how much my wife gave to me on my birthday'

This refers to one of the Community Chest cards which reads

'it's your birthday collect 10 pounds from each player'

this gives the numbers one and zero. The letters can be found by what the text says next:

'those numbers will help you, along with twice the only letter found a dozen times in my neighbours'

Since Daniel starts in Jail, the only letter found a dozen times in his neighbours
(PALL MALL, and PENTONVILLE road - both written twice on the board)
is the letter L which is used twice.

OS Grid Ref 172 526

Coins 7 & 8

Location : Grace Dieu Priory & Rutland Water

Coins : Hidden in two tree stumps by the waters edge

Number & Letter: U (from Grace Dieu) & 3 (From Dice)

Winner: Jeffrey Crane

Tallifer meets his young lady again at Grace Dieu Priory.
This place is spotted fairly easily in a line on page 62 of Treasure, which says:

'At least here you (U) would DIE with GRACE' giving GRACE DIEU.

The location of the two final coins in Leicestershire can be located
by unravelling Odin's riddle on page 64

'Look for a fine gentleman (FINEDON) next to a perfect place for mankind (IRTHLINGBOROUGH). Only at times when he is underwater can you see yet more water at his northern corner'

This means that when map 141 is folded along it natural central horizontal crease,
the northern corner of the village of Finedon (GR 924 725) can be seen behind (in reverse),
or under RUTLAND WATER if the folded map is held up to the light. The 'northern corner'
of Finedon touches a tiny medieval moat (GR 923 072) right on the tip of the Upper Hambleton peninsular. The last two coins were hidden in two tree stumps in a narrow ditch
close to the waters edge.

OS Grid Ref 437 182

Leicestershire Lute Key

Location : Bradgate Park

Winner: Martin Dennett

We now have the following sets of letters and numbers:

1 1 0 5 1 1 0 3

A Y D D L L L U

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

DULL LADY

5 3 0 1 1 1 0 1

The letters re-arrange to form the words DULL and LADY. This is the only County Key word with two words. The numbers over the letters are an eight figure grid reference which lands in BRADGATE PARK, in which the remains of BRADGATE HOUSE stand. LADY GREY (grey meaning DULL) lived there. The County Key was hidden at the base of a large oak tree where the paths crossed on the map.