8 REPORT OF THE 



the Yorkshire Insurance Company agreeing to advance the 

 required amount on mortgage at five per cent. 



Having obtained possession, the Council proceeded to convert 

 a portion of the ground floor of the building into a lodge for the 

 gatekeeper. This was effected at a very trifling cost ; and 

 having placed the remainder of the house in tenantable repair, 

 they let it at a rent more than adequate to meet the interest 

 which the Society will be called upon to pay. By obtaining 

 possession of this property, the Society became the tenants, under 

 the Corporation, of the garden attached to the house, and also of 

 the portion of the City Kamparts and AValls extending towards 

 the Water Tower. This will enable the Society to throw open 

 its grounds very advantageously in that direction, and to extend 

 them to what naturally appears their proper boundary. This 

 improvement it is the intention of the Council to carry out 

 without delay ; and as the greater portion of the work will be 

 performed by labourers usually in the employment of the Society 

 the cost will not be great. The Council, therefore, conceive that 

 they may justly congratulate the Society on having obtained by 

 this transaction — though paying the full market value of the 

 house — advantages far more than equivalent to the outlay, 

 especially when the saving of the costly erection of a lodge is 

 taken into consideration. The whole of the expenses incurred 

 will be found stated in the Treasurer's report. 



The only other object on which the Society has been called 

 to expend any large sum of money in building, during the past 

 year, is the restoration of the lower portion of the Hospi- 

 tium, which was stated in the last report to be in progress. 

 The work is now completed : the lately ruined portion of the 

 building has been repaired, roofed-in, and glazed, and by the 

 removal of a brick partition, this noble apartment is shown in 

 its original dimensions. 



Within this space the large and interesting collection of 

 Roman Altars, Tombs, Monumental Stones, and other relics 

 belonging to the Society, has been duly arranged. The fragments 

 of Saxon, Norman, and English Sculpture likewise, which 

 had long occupied the building in a very confused state, have 

 been disposed in chronological order, chiefly by the aid of 



