War Memorial #2278 ~ Prestwich - St Mary’s Multi-Cache
Hidden : 3/20/2025
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:


Prestwich - St Mary’s War Memorial




There 48 Commonwealth Graves in St Mary’s graveyard, but there is also evidence on gravestones of previous wars.

To find the cache...

At stage AA there are 12 Commonwealth Graves. These are memorials for soldiers who died at Prestwich Asylum, and were buried in an unmarked grave. These soldiers died between 1918 and 1921, as inmates of what was then called Prestwich Mental Hospital, formally The Lancashire County Lunatic Asylum. The Hospital had become the largest such institution in Europe by 1903, and the churchyard here has around 5,300 unmarked pauper graves of inmates.
A = ( add all the first digits of each military number ) minus ( the last digit of each of the three front graves )

At stage BB look for the supine grave of William Percival (this is not a commonwealth grave). Which battle did he survive? Take the initial letter of this battle and make A = 1, B = 2 etc…(there is a conversion table in the images). Multiply this number by 3.
B = this number (two digit number)

At stage CC there is an information board with the grave of Private Thomas Walsh of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers nearby. He was another inmate of Prestwich Mental Asylum. In 1921 Dr Montagu Lomax, assistant medical officer at the hospital between 1917 and 1919, exposed the inhuman, custodial and antitherapeutic practices performed there in his book, "The Experiences of an Asylum Doctor ". The implication for Thomas was that he had suffered "Shell Shock", PTSD as it is today, probably suffering from symptoms such as insomnia, uncontrolable emotions, "voices" and spasms, and was admitted to this hospital rather than the Local Red Cross Hospitals (Polefield, Langley & Sedgley Halls). Thomas obviously wasn't local to Prestwich, and with the records showing a lack of next of kin, that suggests he may have been presumed KIA/MIA by his family for a period of time too.
His Serial No. 3/2C039

At stage DD find Leading Telegraphist Harry Hughes. He served on H.M.S. "Thrasher", one of four B-class destroyers built in 1895. Each had five 6-pounder guns, and two 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes. They patrolled the East coast of England hunting u-boats.
He died in 19 D (2 digit number).

At stage EE find Private Beatrice Anne Slack of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She served in the Pay Corp and was based at Constellation Mill in Radcliffe, she also took part in the roof-top fire watch locally. She survived the war, but died in 1946 of Cancer.
Her Serial No. W/1E4253

At stage FF find Flight Sergeant Silas Harry Bridge of the Royal Air Force. He served in the 107 Squadron equipped with the Blenheim Mk IV from August 1939. After the Italian and German air forces strengthened the air defence of Sicily in December, 1941, and began round-the-clock bombing of the Malta airfields. Losses among the squadron had been so heavy – 90% of all original and replacement crews were killed in action during the Malta operations. Silas was killed in active service February 19th 1942, aged 19 years.
His serial number is F051134

At stage GG find Sergeant Harold Lancaster of the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (not a commonwealth gravestone). The squadron flew the Stirling on bombing raids in occupied Europe against everything from infantry columns to V-weapon sites. Missions in 1942 included Operation Canonbury 1 and 2 on the night of 24 April and 4 May to bomb the Skoda factory at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia in support of the partisan group inserted to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich in Operation Anthropoid. Stirling BF413 had just landed after a successful operation and the aircrew had disembarked when the out of control Short Stirling BF480 killed both Sgt H Lancaster and Sgt A R Denzy.
He died at the age of G1

N53 A. B C  W002 D. E F G

Checksum - A to G added up = 125.
The cache is hidden a shortish walk away, however it is hidden on a steep bank and is not wheelchair accessible.

 

***** PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT *****
CACHES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE PLACED ON ACTUAL MEMORIALS OR WITHIN THE BOUNDARY OF SUCH

AT ALL TIMES PLEASE TREAT LOCATIONS OF MEMORIALS WITH RESPECT

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Ng onfr bs 3 gehaxrq flpnzber

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


Advertising with Us