Royal coat of arms of King George II, St Peter's church, Thorington.
"St Peter's has an aisleless nave and chancel, both rendered, and a round W tower of flint. The nave has very thick walls, probably 11thc., which have been reduced in thickness in their lower parts inside in order, according to Cautley, to increase the available width. There are 13thc. N and S doorways; the N under a porch, the S now giving access to a 19thc. flint vestry. On the exterior, above the S vestry, can be seen a chip-carved arch, identified by Pevsner as 'the surround of a lavish window.' The chancel arch is wooden, and the chancel largely a rebuilding of 1862. The elaborate tower arch is 19thc. neo-Romanesque, but an original chip-carved voussoir is reset above it. The tower is of three storeys. In the first is a 19thc. neo-Romanesque W window; the second is articulated as a band of blind arcading with plain 12thc. lancets at the cardinal points (the E visible inside the church). The third storey has 12thc. double bell-openings at the cardinal points. The tower is capped by an unusual early-16thc. octagonal parapet of brick with triple-stepped merlons. The font, while 13thc., is of Sussex marble and of a type common in Sussex. It may be an import. A photograph is included, but no description. Romanesque sculpture is found in the bell-openings of the tower, the arch in the S wall of the nave, and the voussoir above the tower arch."
SOURCE - (
visit link)
"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."
SOURCE - (
visit link)