Royal coat of arms of King George II, St Peter & St Paul's church, Great Casterton.
"The church at Great Casterton has some very interesting features and is an attractive building with its ironstone fabric and pretty churchyard. Most of the church dates from the 13th century and consists of a nave, north and south aisles (1250 and 1280 respectively), chancel, south porch and an unusual tower which was added later by building it within the nave, but more on that later. There is also a vestry which was added in the early 1980’s.
The chancel although following the plan of the original Norman structure has lancet windows and is Early English, the east window has two lancet windows with shafts and stiff-leaf capitals. There are two monuments to former rectors and there are also four aumbries. These were discovered when some wood paneling was removed from the chancel walls in 1930 when a new altar, reredos and alterations to the chancel floor were undertaken.
The aisles were also built in the 13th century but do not reach the full length of the nave. The clerestory with its pretty tre-foiled windows date from the same period and adds character and of course more light into the church. The tower was added in the 14th century, but due to not enough land to the west the tower was built inside the nave with a large west archway. This is similar to the internal tower at Allexton. The aisles have piscinas at each end and these would have been used as chapels with altars. Most medieval churches used their aisles as chapels for various uses. The tower arch has a fine plaster tympanum with the arms of George II."
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"George was elector of Hanover and second Hanoverian king of Great Britain and Ireland.
George was born in Hanover, Germany on 10 November 1683, the only son of the elector of Hanover. In 1705 he married Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and they had nine children.
In 1714, George's father succeeded to the British throne, and created George prince of Wales. The relationship between father and son was already poor and the prince's London residence, Leicester House, became a rival court and focus for a dissident Whig group which included Robert Walpole. He encouraged a reconciliation between father and son. This led to Walpole's inclusion in George I's administration, whereupon he lost the prince's favour. Only Caroline's intervention kept Walpole in office when the prince succeeded to the throne in 1727. He cemented his position by securing George a Civil List (allowance) from parliament of £800,000, considerably more than previous monarchs had received. Walpole also won acknowledgement of George's legitimacy from many influential Tories who supported the exiled Stuart pretender to the English throne. As a result, no senior politician deserted George's cause during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. Charles Edward Stuart, the 'Young Pretender' landed in Scotland but, after some initial success, was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
George seemed destined to imitate his father, quarrelling with his son Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, who in turn became a leader of an anti-administration faction. War broke out with Spain in 1739. In 1742 Walpole, who had dominated government since 1721, resigned. George quickly found another mentor in John Carteret who, with George, brought England into the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), prompting accusations that he was subordinating English interests to those of George's German possessions. In 1743, George led his troops into battle against the French at Dettingen, the last British king to fight in battle.
During the last decade of his life George took little interest in politics. Britain's involvement in the Seven Years' War (1756 - 1763) was largely overseen by William Pitt the Elder. This period also saw the expansion of British influence in India and Canada with the military successes of Robert Clive and James Wolfe respectively.
George died on 25 October 1760. Frederick had died in 1751, leaving George's grandson to inherit the throne."
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