Please be aware that Hornchurch Cemetery is open at the following hours only:
9am – 7pm (April – October)
9am – 4pm (November – March)
Start at N51 33 542 E000 13 626
Flying Officer Raimund Sanders Draper saved the lives of 650 students in Sutton School in Hornchurch when his Spitfire plane's engine died and the plane went into a spin short of the nearby airfield on 24 March 1943 during the Second World War. He deliberately crashed the plane to avoid hitting the school. To do this, he did not jump from his plane, but was killed in the crash. The school was renamed in his honour to Sanders Draper School in 1973 on the 30th anniversary of the crash, until 2014, when the school was renamed again, to Sanders School. Draper was an American serving as a Spitfire pilot in the RAF.
Find his grave. How old was he when he died? Answer = AB
Find the narrow path off the main path back towards the church, and go to N51 33 507 E000 13 521
The sunken space on your right as you follow the path was The Dell, or Mill Field. Renowned for bare-knuckle fighting and wrestling matches, the Dell’s most famous confrontation came in April 1795 when Daniel Mendoza and John Jackson fought in a contest attended by 3,000 spectators. The fight lasted just over 10 minutes when the odds-on favourite, Mendoza, gave up exhausted.
There’s a rectangular plate near the bottom of the gate. How many rivets? Answer = CD
Head back down the path and turn left to N51 33 559 E000 13 578
The New Zealand Convalescent Hospital opened in Hornchurch in July 1916 with 1,500 beds, later extended to 2,000 and then 2,500. The first patients were transferred from a hospital in Epsom, Surrey. The aim was to send soldiers back to the frontline in six months. If this was not possible they were sent back to New Zealand, although some did return to the Front later on. Among the contingent were 102 Maori soldiers from the island of Niue, in the South Pacific, who arrived in June 1916. One of the group was His Highness the Prince Rangitira – also known as Prince Moki. He was a private who had fought in Egypt. The climate here was difficult for the Maoris to adjust to and sadly several died from pneumonia, including 21-year-old Moki.
Find his grave. His Army serial number was 16/10EF
Continue up the path to the front of the church to N51 33 646 E000 13 539
Herbert John Dale was Vicar Temporal from 1902 to 19GH.
Cross over the road and continue towards Hornchurch Town Centre to N51 33 685 E000 13 401
How many letters in the surname of the person who once owned this building? Answer = J
Continue towards Hornchurch Town Centre to N51 33 711 E000 13 241
Looking SE, the building in the middle of the road used to be called The White Hart. To some locals, it still is! Said to have been of great age even then, it was destroyed by fire in 1872 and since then has been twice rebuilt. The present house, dating from c1935, is a large house dominating the island site at the junction of High Street and Station Lane and now comprises two restaurant/bars.
Above the windows, how many columns? Answer = KL
Continue around into North Street to N51 33 798 E000 13 212
How many panes of glass in the white bay windows? Answer = MN
The cache itself can be found at N51 33 (L+N)(D+E)(B-C-F) E000 13 (H-J)A(M+A+D+G+K)
From here you get a great view of Queens Theatre. The theatre first opened in 1953 in Station Lane in a building which had fallen into disuse having once been a cinema and storage facility. The theatre soon outgrew its building and a new purpose built theatre was built in Billet Lane which officially opened on April 2 1975 by Sir Peter Hall, the director of the national theatre. In front of you is The Green. Originally the site of the Wedlakes Iron Works, famous for the manufacture of “modern farming implements”, the green is now used as a venue for cultural events and a place for quiet contemplation. The green was also used by Hornchurch Cricket Club for home matches from 1925 to 1939.