Bournemouth At War / WEST CLIFF BOMBING Traditional Cache

Bournemouth has a great history. I have documented many famous people, major events and occurrences in previous geocaching series highlighting the history of Bournemouth. This series focuses on many of the key incidents and stories in the town when Bournemouth was at war. A complete list of all the caches in this series are bookmarked.

By 1942, many peoples’ lives had changed. Rations, rehousing and restrictions were just some of the struggles people in the town had to endure. However, it was the bombing that caused devastation to certain areas of Bournemouth.





In the early hours of Whit Monday 25th May 1942, the centre of the town was the target. First, a high explosive bomb fell in the Upper Pleasure Gardens, but the area of this cache was bombed 45 minutes later at 1am. In total, 22 houses suffered minor damage on the West Cliff when two bombs hit the tennis courts and the bowling green in Argyll Gardens, whilst two more exploded on the cliff itself. Remarkably, there were no casualties, however water mains were damaged and roads were covered with debris. It was believed that the bombs were intended for “Falaise”, West Overcliff Drive, which was then being used as the HQ for 126 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment.