Image reproduced with permission of Trinity Mirror plc
Transcription
New Training Camp Army Authorities and Prees Heath
Army officers have inspected Prees Heath, near Whitchurch, with a view to its being used as a military training camp for 15,000 men of Kitchener’s Army. Prees Heath is an ancient common, covering some thousands of acres of land. The sub-soil is sandy. The heath stands on high ground, and is flat over its whole five miles’ length. It is intersected by the main road between Chester and Shrewsbury. The railway connection is also good.
Cheshire Observer 5th December 1914
This is so very interesting for me as a family historian. I found the website as a result of looking at a photograph of my paternal grandfather with his company of the 18th (Pals) Manchester Regiment. On the back of the picture taken in 1917 is pencilled in Prees Heath. It looked like ‘Grees Heath’ but I soon found this website. My grandfather was Herbert James Rigby and he survived the First World War and died in 1975.
Thank you for your feedback. It is rewarding for us to hear that your grandfather’s presence at the Prees Heath Camp was informed by our website. We have researched local men who served in WW1 and survived but this did not include your grandfather as I assume he was from elsewhere in the country
Terry Fry
Volunteer at Whitchurch Museum & Archives