Back in place. Cache is off the small path opposite a small group of young trees (where it used to be) on the east side of Common. Placed in the winter, the growth us a little luxurious at the cache site.
Continuing the trail of caches starting up on Putney Heath and continuing down Putney Park Lane, this cache is named after one of the two houses that stood near this spot on the Common and which made way for Putney Hospital in 1912.
According to a Putney history, "On the Lower Common, standing out by themselves, are two old houses, Elm Lodge and West Lodge, in big gardens sliced off the common. The houses are fancifully painted, and half hidden behind a privet hedge and a row of elms."
The hospital was closed in 1998/9 and after a long and heated planning process is now in the process of being redevoped as a school and flats. It has looked pretty sad for the last decade. Apparently, the hospital was used as a location in Robbie Coltrane's film, "Nuns on the Run".
The Cemetery about 150m to the west is worth a wander, although it is a little unloved these days. A noteworthy resident is Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (d 1894), who designed and sculpted the dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park, apparently the first dinosaur sculptures in the world.