As this is an easy find please also take the time to take in some of Maghaberrys 'interesting places' which I have included in the cache listing.
I - Trummery Old Church Graveyard
N 54° 29.7022 W 006° 11.5459
The stump of the ancient Round Tower of Trummery and the ruins of the adjacent church are located in a graveyard approximately one and a half miles north-east of Moira, County Down. The ecclesiastical site is situated in the townland of Trummery, which name is a derivation of the Gaelic "tromaun" meaning "a place where elder trees grow", and in the parish of Magheramesk, anciently called Rathmesk.
Little or nothing is known of its early history, the only evidence of Celtic origin being the Round Tower, and a document said to date from 1210 contains a possible reference to it. The first definite reference appeared in 1306 when, in Pope Nicholas IV's Taxation Roll for the Diocese of Down, the "Church of Rathmesk" was valued at half a mark (6s 8d), yielding a tithe of 8d. The Diocesan Terrier of 1615 states that the incumbent paid a total of 5s 4d annually, and in 1622 the Bishop of Down, in compiling his inventory of See properties, reported that the church was in ruins. Until well into the nineteenth century, both the church and the Round Tower were consistently plundered by local builders for stone, the accompanying illustration giving some idea of the damage. Today only the west gable and the bottom portions of the church walls survive. A sepulchral chapel built by the Spencer family on to the east end of the church occasioned the destruction of the original and small chancel and is itself now equally ruinous.
The Round Tower, which only survives to a height of six feet, was linked to the north side of the sepulchral chapel by means of a short vestibule. Dr George Petrie and Lord Dunraven, both leading antiquarians in the nineteenth century, were of the opinion that it was erected in the late twelfth century which is late in comparison to most round towers. They based their conclusion on the fact that it was very close to the original church building, this feature being regarded as an intermediate stage in the evolution of the church tower which soon afterwards tended to be constructed as an integral part of the church. An examination of the masonry carried out in 1842 by Edmund Getty, the noted antiquarian and Ballast Master of Belfast Harbour, strongly suggested that the tower was built slightly later than the church.
When entire, the tower stood approximately sixty feet high. A peculiar feature was that it had a rather chunky rectangular base protruding to the south and incorporating a low tunnel-like doorway, above which was the original doorway, set in its customary position eight or ten feet above ground level, the two being connected by a spiral staircase, some steps of which remain. Four windows facing the cardinal points of the compass were located near the top of the tower. The cap which was cupola-shaped was constructed of limestone slabs on concrete, the marks of the wicker form-work still being visible after its fall in 1828. One Mr Rogan, a local antiquarian living in the first half of the nineteenth century, was told by two elderly and respectable men that they could well remember the collapse of a great oak beam in the tower, known as the belltree. Mr Getty's excavations of 1842 also revealed that the tower had been built on top of a small stone-lined burial sepulchre, approximately 6'6" long by 2'3" wide and 2'6" deep, and containing human bones in an extremely friable condition.
Like the church, the Round Tower also served as a local quarry and by the 1820s, stone from nearly half of its width had been removed from much of the lower portion. Dean James Stannus, later Rector of Lisburn Cathedral, acting for the Marquis of Hertford was making arrangements to have the tower repaired, but unfortunately he was too late, for it collapsed in October 1828. When I visited the locality in 1969, I heard a most interesting tradition concerning this event It appears that while a group of farm labourers were working in a nearby potato field one rather calm and sunny day, there was a sudden and very heavy shower of rain, whereupon they all took shelter in the tower. It lasted for about half and hour and ended as suddenly as it had started; the men had not been back at work many minutes when there was a tremendous crash and the ground shook as though struck by a tremor. They looked round in time to see the dust settling over a heap of rubble that had been for nearly seven hundred years the Round Tower of Rathmesk.
II - Society of Friends (Quakers) Graveyard
N 54° 30.5200 W 006° 10.7509
The nearest Friends Meeting in the area was held at Maghaberry which was located over three miles from the Friend Society school at Brookfield. Walking there and back was the only means of transport, and this meant travelling in all weathers and conditions. Meetings were held on both "First Day" and "Fifth Day" mornings, to use the old Quaker phraseology, or Sunday and Thursday as we now say. It was quite a journey for some of the younger children especially when we remember weather conditions were in no way different from what they are at present. The children would not have been as well prepared for sudden storms and rain as the age of plastic clothing had not yet arrived. Regularly and faithfully the attendance at Maghaberry was carried out by both teachers and children. A considerable number of Friends and their families lived in the district and attended the meeting, so it must have been quite an event each week to make the journey to Maghaberry. It was owing to the efforts of the superintendent of the school at that time, William W Davidson, that funds were raised and a Meeting House was opened at Brookfield in 1874, which was a wonderful convenience for the school, it was also attended by many living in the neighbourhood.
III - HMP Maghaberry
N 54° 30.9173 W 006° 11.6388
HMP Maghaberry was built on the site of a World War II airfield near Lisburn, Northern Ireland that was used as a transit base for the United States Army Air Force. At the end of the war, the base was run down and various government agencies used parts of the old airfield until the Northern Ireland Office purchased the ground in 1974 and began work on the prison in 1976. Mourne House, which held all female prisoners, young offenders, and remands, was the first part of the new prison to be opened in March 1986. This followed the closure of the existing female establishment at HMP Armagh. The male prison became fully operational on 2 November 1987. Following the closure of HMP Belfast on 31 March 1996, Maghaberry became the adult committal prison in Northern Ireland. Two new accommodation blocks were opened in 1999. Maghaberry is currently a modern high security prison housing adult male long term sentenced and remand prisoners, in both separated and integrated conditions. Immigration detainees are accommodated in the Prison's Belfast facility. The prison holds 970 prisoners in single and double cell accommodation.
IV - View of Lagan Valley & The Mourne Mountains
N 54° 30.3409 W 006° 10.5595
As it say on the tin but it all depends on the weather!
The cache is a small clear box hidden from view.
Cache has room for small swaps which can be taken as long as something of equal or greater value is put in its place.
There is a log book and pen included.
Please take care while searching for the cache due to passing traffic and nettles/thorns and also look out for passing muggles walking or jogging!