Around the walls of the Georgia State Capitol are portraits of former state governors. One of the best known of all the governors of the state was number 76, Jimmy Carter, who was the democratic governor from 1971 until 1975. He was the 39th President of the United States, and the only governor from Georgia to go on to hold that role.
A slightly quirky exhibit in the Georgia State Capitol, which is the box which the rotunda’s gold travelled in. The gold was sent from Dahlonega and Lumpkin County in August 1958 and to add some theatre to the proceedings, it was carried in an 1830s train.
The building’s rotunda wasn’t originally made from gold, it was made from the decidedly less impressive combination of tin and wood. This didn’t last that well and repairs were frequent, so someone had a marvellous idea to use gold instead. Actually, the arrangements weren’t great, as it wasn’t clear that the Governor knew that the gold was coming on an 1830s train and it got a little ignored.
So, the story ends nicely. Well, it doesn’t quite. The state didn’t quite get the gold to adhere correctly to the rotunda and by the 1970s half of it was missing. In 1979, it was decided to repeat the whole collecting gold and sending by wagon train thing, which worked well. And today the rotunda is safe, with the gold adhering this time, so there might not be a wagon train carrying gold being sent to Atlanta again for some time…..
This feels a little more relevant to me now that I’ve seen the actual Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. It’s a replica of the original bell and this is one of 55 replicas which were cast as part of the Liberty Bell Savings Bonds drive in 1950. The 55 that were made were for one each for the 48 states, one for the District of Columbia and several for the territories. Only one of the bells has gone missing (although goodness knows how you lose a bell like that) and there’s a list of their whereabouts at http://tomlovesthelibertybell.com/liberty-bell-replica-locations/.
Some photos from my visit to Atlanta Zoo in October 2015. Unfortunately writing this over three years after means I’ve forgotten parts of the visit, but I do remember seeing the pandas close-up. It was all clean and organised, with plenty of space for the animals and I don’t recall there being that many other visitors there.
The Thetford cage and stocks were located over the road on Cage Lane and were originally opened in 1581. The building was larger and it’s infuriating to know that the council demolished it in 1968, salvaging only the window arch and placing this in its current location over the road as part of a new public toilet complex.
The cage remained in use until the nineteenth century and the council then decided it would flog off the stocks, which had long since fallen out of use, at the local market. Their whereabouts were unknown for some time, but it transpired that they Mr. Barclay’s Park in Norwich, and they were fortunately returned again to the cage.
Thetford Mill, located on the appropriately named Watermill Lane, which was used as a corn mill and closed in the late 1950s. It was originally built in the early nineteenth century on the site of a former pit mill. It’s also known as the Coffee Mill which most reliable sources suggest is just because of what was stored there, but some web-sites are saying that coffee was also ground here. Anyway, it’s one of those two options no doubt…..
Although all of the machinery has now gone from within the building, the mill bridge structure still performs the role of regulating the flow of the River Thet.
This priory was founded in 1148 and it takes its name from the Augustinian order of the Holy Sepulchre, of which there are no other remains in the country. The order didn’t have the wealth of other religious establishments, such as St. Mary’s Priory, and failed to grow in size and power. They did own the comb of Thomas Becket though as one of their most holiest of relics.
The Reformation inevitably wasn’t kind to the order and the building was seized by the Crown and the order dissolved in 1536. The nave survived and was turned into a barn, but the structure of the building continued to decline.
This entrance was built in the eighteenth century when the building was used as a barn, and then subsequently blocked off. Parts of the building were also used as ornamental gardens.
There was a lot of structural work going on when I visited in 2018, with some of the information signs being inaccessible. The site is now managed by the English Heritage, with no charge being made for admission.
Thetford Grammar School is, as the plaque notes, one of the oldest schools in the country. It has been educating children for over 1,400 years, which is quite a claim for any educational establishment to have.
The actual date of the school’s foundation is rather unclear, which is inevitable given the sort of periods of history that are being referred to. There are some who claim it was founded in 631AD as it’s known that Sigebert, the King of the Angles, wanted a school creating in his court.
Some date the school to the late eleventh century and relate the school to being run by Herbert de Losinga. He is an important figure in Norfolk as he was the first Bishop of Norwich, but he had previously been the Bishop of Thetford. The Cathedral of Thetford, which is a strange concept to write, existed from 1072 to 1094 and Thetford Grammar School was built on the site of the building.
The school had some turbulent times around the period of Reformation, but it continued in operation in its one room until the late eighteenth century. The facilities were improved at that point, in conjunction with the Victorian Girls’ Grammar School which was opposite, with the two schools later merging.
Perhaps one of the most well-known of the school’s former students, and I’m sure many would disagree, is Thomas Paine. A controversial figure who went from a quiet upbringing in Thetford to being one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, before he upset lots of Americans with his religious views.
This statue of Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army was unveiled in 2010 and it was located next to the Anchor Hotel in Thetford, where many of the actors stayed when filming. This was a wonderful (although admittedly a little run down) eighteenth century building which appeared in the opening scene of the first episode of Dad’s Army, so it was a very suitable location.
There had been a hotel and pub on the site for 400 years, so Breckland District Council bought the site and knocked the hotel down. The site is now home to a bland Travelodge, but not to worry, they’ve put a plaque up in the hotel to note the area’s history. And at least the area is decently landscaped now.
A close-up of the statue and visitors to the area can sit next to it on the bench. The statue was unveiled in the presence of Bill Pertwee, who sadly died in 2013, who played the ARP Warden Hodges in the series.
A fascinating fact from the EPIC Irish Emigration museum in Dublin….. Which I incidentally think is confusing as there are around 7,000 pubs in Ireland, so this must mean the number of Irish pubs who have signed up to the Global Irish Pubs Directory. Which suggests the Global Irish Pubs Directory isn’t signing up very many Irish pubs in Ireland.
So, more a confusing fact than a fascinating one perhaps…
