Cumbria’s Banksy-esque guerrilla art collective is asking for help to find its missing golden pie.
Cumberland Objects – whose real identities remain unknown – has launched a new mysterious hunt for the pie which it said had last been seen somewhere in Carlisle.
It is the fifth trail of its kind in Cumbria, after the group set up trails of custard creams and bourbons in the city as well as signs, pies and fried eggs in Whitehaven, Egremont, Cleator Moor and Cockermouth last year.
The new hunt has been teased by the group for weeks and it has now announced that the golden pie hunt will take place on Monday May 4 with further details set to be revealed on its Facebook page.
It’s announcement was made via a ‘public notice’ poster alongside a QR code for the date reveal.
The group added: “Members of the public are encouraged to stay tuned and prepare to take part in what promises to be an event in the city’s calendar.
“There will be no objections taken at this point.”
The trails aim to encourage people to embark on scavenger hunts to find them all.
The group has said on its website that Cumberland Objects is a project to celebrate the obscure and uncelebrated anecdotal heritage of Cumbria.
Cumberland Objects said: “We are racking our brains trying to remember where we put this wee pie…when something comes to mind, we’ll let you know. We are going to need all the help we can get with this one!”
The group has shared a handful of visual and written clues on the missing golden pie’s location so far over the past few weeks.
Its identifying features are that it stands at 1.5 inches tall, is golden and has a flaky golden crust.
It also shared some pictures of an evidence board to help track down the pie – which includes an image of Elizabeth Rainbow and references to skirret pie.
Elizabeth Rainbow was the wife of Edward Rainbow who was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1608 until 1684.
Her recipe for skirret pie – which is described a variant of mince pie – can be found on a food blog written in 2011, taken from the Receipt Book of Elizabeth Rainbow.
The pie filling was made up of skirrets, which are a root vegetable, dates, butter, bone marrow, sugar, cinnamon and eggs.
A code written in a cipher can also be seen in one of the images, which also appears to make reference to Elizabeth Rainbow.
Dates including Easter, March 31 to April 13, May, May 25 to May 29 and summer, July 20 to August 28 are also listed on a blue post it note – which appear to reference school holidays.
The final evidence board clues mark some locations in pictures and pins on a map of Carlisle and its surrounding area.
Subway steps near Carlisle Castle have been pictured as well as a side street near Carlisle Railway Station.
The group added that anyone who finds the golden pie should post a picture of it to the Cumberland Objectors Club Facebook group.
The group’s other trails of custard creams, bourbons and pies have well documented by local people over the past year.
Cumberland Objects said it is a project to celebrate the obscure and uncelebrated anecdotal heritage of Cumbria.
Nobody knows who is behind the project, but when approached by Cumbria Crack last year, they told us they wanted the focus to be on the joy they were bringing, and not on their intriguing group identity.
Most of the collective’s objects feature a QR code beside them, which takes finders to a website that shares extra details on the object.
The website shares some object locations and also features old anecdotes and stories from local people.
The custard creams in Carlisle pay homage to McVitie’s which produces 6.5 million of the biscuits in Carlisle every 24 hours while the pies represent Bennett’s, a popular old pie shop from days gone by in Cleator Moor.
Cumberland Objects has been contacted for comment on its missing golden pie.
The collective also has a Cumberland Objectors group on Facebook for people to share pictures of the biscuits and pies they’ve found so far.
We’d love to see your pictures and hear your thoughts on the Cumberland Objects mystery. Email us at [email protected]
Are you part of Cumberland Objects? If you’re reading this, we’d still love to hear more…email us at [email protected]
