Notices

NOTICES· IN Merlin's Jsl,a,nd, a series of provocative essays on Britain in the Dark Ages (Methuen, 10s. 6d.) Mr. T. C. Lethbridge emphasizes the continuity of archreology and history. He puts forward certain "damnable heresies," as he calls them, which any reader with imagination will enjoy to the full. The Irish missionaries, for example, travelled to Greenland and America, and in Roman times men sailed from Britain and made friends among the Eskimos. There are some interesting speculations on the origins of house forms and boats and the connecting links between them. An essay on "Kent and the Education of the Barbarians" reminds us that in this area Anglo-Saxon women returned to some extent to the· clothes and ornaments of the classical world. Late Saxon and Viking Art, by Dr. T. D. Kendrick (Methuen, 328. 6d.} is a sumptuously illustrated and detailed account of tenth and eleventh century manuscripts, the late standing crosses, and English Romanesque sculpture ; it is a continuation of his unique study of Anglo-Saxon art. Kentish readers note with particular interest that the Reoulver cross is now thought by some authorities to date in the ninth or tenth centuries : the usually accepted date is that of the foundation of the Minster. 161 14 NOTICES Planning Basis for Kent (Kent County Council) is the concern of us all, but it is of special interest to members of the Kent Archreological Society as it incorporates the list of buildings of historic or architectural interest largely compiled under the Society's auspices, and notes on proposed conservation areas. The list is the only one of its sort ever published in Kent, and it provides a most useful addition to the literature of the county. In Dover Reconstruction Proposals, by P. V. Marchant, the Borough Engineer, every effort has been made to preserve buildings of historical merit, . and to display the few that remain with greater advantage. The twelfth century chapel of St. Edmund, uncovered in the destruction of adjoining property by gun-fire, will perhaps serve as a war memorial, while the ruined twelfth century church of St. James should, it is suggested, remain for all time as " a tidy ruin " to commemorate the suffering of the people of Dover throughout the war. Canterbury Mayoral Quincentenary (1945) is commemorated by an attractive souvenir booklet (The City Council, 28. 6d. ), the greater part of which is the careful work of our member, Mr. William Urry. The description of the City Regalia is the only one readily accessible. Mr. Urry, Assistant Librarian to the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, is well qualified to write upon the history of his Foundation and City. See Canterbury in a Day (Cinque Ports Publications, ls. 6d.) is a finely illustrated and brightly written tourist handbook. Its ready acceptance is assured. Maidstone, an official brochure by R. V. Hewett, records the town's four-hundredth anniversary of incorporation as a borough. It includes, among other features, a brief and selective survey of local history, the story of the Charters, and an account of architectural development. The book is popularly written, and good of its kind. The Grotto, by H. Bridgewater, a member of the Society (Rydal Press, Keighley, 2s. 6d.). The Goddess at Margate, by Harper Cory (Mayflower Publishing Co. Ltd., London, N.D. but presumably recent, 2s. 6d.). The scamperings of the Tosh Horse ridden hell-for-leather round Thanet, by one author urged towards Mithras and Phoenicia, and by the other towards Crete, will afford entertainment for some spectators, but will hardly indicate a course which the mere archreologist will wish to follow. R.F.J. 162