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Archaeological Sites and Dry Stone Walls

The GAGB guidelines for placing caches in the UK state, "No cache should be placed in such a way as to risk damage or disturbance to any Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM)" and "No cache should be placed in or on a dry stone wall". The main geocaching.com guidelines say that caches may not be allowed "in areas which are highly sensitive to the extra traffic that would be caused by vehicles and humans (examples may include archaeological or historic sites or cemeteries)"

Caches in archaeological sites such as iron age hill forts, monasteries, abbeys, Roman sites, barrows, settlements or enclosures and so on* are absolutely not allowed unless you can provide clear proof from the organisation that owns/manages the site that the cache location is approved. You may however use such sites as clues and questions to answer for multi-caches, but the final location or any physical stages must not be within the boundaries of such sites without permission. Please note that the guideline above still applies to these 'clue' stages in case the extra traffic of people searching may cause damage to the site.
*this is not an exhaustive list. Reviewers will use their discretion when reviewing caches believed to be in such locations and may request more information from the cache owner.

The images above are taken from the OS 1:50,000 scale maps. Reviewers also use the MAGIC map which has more precisely defined boundaries of Scheduled Ancient Monuments with an orange boundary and shading. It is recomended you look at your proposed location on MAGIC.

Dry stone walls by definition have no mortar holding them together, their construction alone being the strength they need. Removing stones from these walls can seriously weaken their structure so caches are not allowed on such walls or in them. If the reviewers believe a cache is in such a location it will be challenged. If a cache is published and later found to be in such a location it will most likely be archived and the owner asked to remove it.

MAGIC map and how to use it

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