More rain, nearly all day. No alarms at all. Absurd story brought by Harding [the Museum Attendant], that he had been told that a man riding in a bus a day or so ago had overheard two Australians say that they had stolen a “card” of coins from the Museum. The conductor heard this, and he told Harding. Hull was in a terrible state. The description of a “card” seemed to indicate the silver coins from the Bronze Ewer Hoard, which are mounted between two sheets of glass, so nothing would quieten Hull except we go into the Dungeons and empty practically every packing case to see if anything was missing. Nothing was, but that is certainly not Hull’s fault. None of the packing cases is closed by a lid, although I urged that this should be done from the very beginning.
Hull has now bought a large padlock which he intends to lock the inner gaol door. Personally, I believe the whole story to be a complete invention, like so many of these tales about the Australians.
Called at Harry Day’s this afternoon and had tea there. Tried to persuade him that the immediate future of the harness trade must be bright, but he refused to believe me, and will continue to do most of his business in fancy goods.
Had supper at Rose’s. Still raining tonight.
2 comments:
Interesting that they seemed to store the museum artefacts in the dungeons at the time
Hi Jane, Yes, it was all part of the precautions to protect the most important objects in the collection from bomb damage. These artefacts were packed up and stored in the dungeons and vaults just before war broke out and were thought to be relatively safe from bombs thanks to the protection offered by the massive walls and foundations of the Castle building. Objects that were considered less important remained on display in the Castle Museum for the duration of the war. CP
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