War Memorial #2279 ~ Prestwich Mystery Cache

Prestwich has two war memorial crosses, the oldest cross is the one that now stands outside PADOS on Rectory Lane. This cross originally stood on Gardner Mount (know as Spion Kop after a battle in the Boer War) and is grade II listed. It is the only known remaining example of a temporary monument to the fallen of WW1. While communities around the country collected funds to build more permanent monuments, they erected wooden crosses, usually from timber or plywood, with the intention that they would be replaced by stone ones, such as the Cross of Sacrifice constructed at St Mary's Church.