The John Pounds Memorial Church (Portsmouth Unitarian Church) was built in 1955 uniting two historic chapels, St Thomas's Street General Baptist chapel, and the High Street Presbyterian Chapel, after both chapels were destroyed by enemy action in 1941. John Pounds worshipped in the Unitarian Chapel, that stood on this site- and now there is a replica of his workshop located at the back of the church via the garden. You will also find here in the garden his memorial stone, which was paid for with penny and half-penny subscriptions by his grateful pupils and neighbours.
John Pounds was born in Portsmouth on 17thJune 1766. His father was a sawyer in the royal dockyard and when he was twelve years old, his father arranged for him to be apprenticed as a ship wright. Three years later John fell into a dry dock and was crippled for life. Unable to work as a shipwright, John became a shoe maker and by 1803 had his own shop in St Mary Street, Portsmouth. While working in the shop, John began teaching local children how to read. His reputation as a teacher grew and he soon has over forty pupils attending his lessons. Unlike other schools, John did not charge a fee for teaching the poor of Portsmouth. As well as reading and arithmetic, John gave lessons in cooking, carpentry and shoemaking. John Pounds died in 1839.
NOW FOR THE CACHE...
You will find the cache atN50 47.ABC W001 05.DEF where:
When looking at the front of the building you will see a blue plaque-
A=the number of letters in the first word on the sixth line (curved line of text being the first line)
B=on the fourth line- the third number minus the fourth number
C=the number of letters in the last word on the tenth line
Now go into the churches garden, you will see John Pounds Memorial Stone towards the rear-
D=the number of letters in the last word on the first line
E=the number of letters in the fourth word on the thirteenth line
F=the number of letters in the first word on the second line
The checksum for all fifteen digits of the coordinates is 50. The final GZ can be quite busy at times, the cache is a small black magnetic container. Good luck and happy hunting!
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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