tent from another miner, while other legends would have it that he instead stole a wheelbarrow, or that the thief died after being lynched. The most detailed account attributes the grave to a fortune hunter, one Walter Scott, who committed suicide. Scott would have shot his friend Roy Spencer, son of a well-to-do English banker, after they returned drunk from a party. Scott suspected Spencer of stealing his purse of gold. Scott pursued Spencer and shot him near the church, the site of the present graveyard, whereafter Spencer was secretly buried. The sobered-up Scott found his purse in his tent, and committed suicide when he realised what he had done. Scott was then buried in an unmarked grave next to that of his friend, Spencer. Recent times and tourism Mining was closed down in 1971 and the village was sold to the government as a national museum. Transvaal Gold Mining Estates Limited started mining again in 1998. It is currently owned by Theta Gold Mines Limited, an Australian listed company. On May 15, 2004, the old TGME reduction works was added to the UNESCO World Heritage tentative List in the Cultural category but was removed in 2016. The town's original architecture remains largely unchanged since the heyday of the mining era, because the town was declared a National Monument. It became a provincial heritage site in 1986. The village is a cultural heritage site and living museum with a variety of village museums, tours, accommodation, restaurants and shops. Gallery In popular culture Pilgrim's Rest was featured in the "Kingdom of the Vanished" episode of the Science Channel's TV program Mysteries of the Abandoned, originally cablecast on October 24, 2019. See also Coins of the South African pound Jock of the Bushveld References Notes Further reading Mabin, A. S. & Pirie, G. H. (1985) "The township question at Pilgrims Rest, 1894–1922". South African Historical Journal, 17, 64–83. Pirie, G. H. (1986) "Public administration in Pilgrims Rest, 1915–1969". Contree, 20, 27–32. External links Pilgrim's Rest Reduction Works Industrial Heritage Site - UNESCO World Heritage Centre Pilgrims Rest Website Populated places in the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa History of mining in South Africa