REVIEWS 



297 



the customary terms such as common or scarce. 

 Local food plants noted are those recorded in 

 Wiltshire, and a span of years between the first 

 known and the last known record is given. 



Of the approximately 1550 species of 

 micromoths in Britain, members of five families 

 were included in de Worms' work, yet this book 

 includes records of around 880 species, a very 

 creditable figure for a county with a low number of 

 regular students of the microlepidoptera over the 

 years and large areas of countryside under intensive 

 agricultural practices. 



The author writes that, although no positive data 

 are to hand, it is more than likely that the loss of 

 species, owing to changes in agriculture and urban 

 development, significantly outnumbers the gains 

 across the county. It is certainly the case that many 

 species are much less widespread and common than 

 previously, and when someone comes to update the 

 Macrolepidoptera ofWiltshire the same situation will 

 be found to have occurred, even since 1962. 



Stephen Palmer lived in the county for only ten 

 years and brought his researches to a conclusion 

 and prepared his publication after leaving for 

 Lancashire in 1993 - a very commendable 

 achievement. 



JOHN d'ARCY 



Pamela Slocombe. Wiltshire Town Houses 1500 

 - 1900. Wiltshire Buildings Record, 2001, 112 

 pages, photographs, drawings. Price £6.00, 

 paperback, ISBN 1 903341 75 0. 



Wiltshire is a county of small towns but is also well 

 known for the rich variety of its domestic 

 architecture and these two aspects of life in the 

 county are interestingly brought together in book 

 4 in the Wiltshire Buildings Record series. The 

 format for the new book follows the pattern of the 

 previous three and is thus instantly recognisable to 

 those familiar with the series. Once again, the book 

 is packed with detailed information, accompanied 

 by numerous illustrations and photographs, 

 providing an intriguing picture of town houses 

 across the county. 



Town houses are often subject to change, either 

 from economic forces or architectural fashion, a 

 point which is clearly revealed in this publication. 

 The inclusion of an introduction to development 

 in towns and the layout of plots and streets provides 

 a much needed reminder of the significance of these 

 historic elements and gives meaning to features 



which are sometimes difficult to understand. It is 

 not an easy task to cover the period 1500-1900, 

 especially as the status of settlements changes and 

 a number of buildings will have been replaced or 

 significantly altered. Indeed, it is this alteration of 

 the town centres that makes this book especially 

 valuable both for the record that it provides and for 

 the explanation of the historical development 

 process. 



Within the county Salisbury contains a 

 remarkable cross-section of town houses and, 

 although information from Salisbury in this book 

 is relatively limited, the Further Reading list 

 includes reference to the two important publications 

 by the Royal Commission on Historical 

 Monuments on Salisbury City and The Close. In 

 this way the WBR book usefully adds to our 

 knowledge of the County's' buildings rather than 

 repeating information from other published sources. 

 Further study on the subject is encouraged by the 

 reading list and the useful references to other 

 organisations involved in historic building 

 conservation. 



Both the student and the visitor will find much 

 to interest them in the Wiltshire towns and their 

 knowledge and enjoyment will be enhanced by the 

 information provided in this book. The Buildings 

 Record and the author, Pamela Slocombe, are to 

 be commended for the efforts which have clearly 

 been made to provide a wide ranging and very 

 detailed picture of Wiltshire town houses. The 

 addition of a full index covering books 1-4 makes it 

 easier for those who wish to learn more about the 

 buildings ofWiltshire to understand the full range 

 and depth of the architecture of the county. 



Wiltshire is particularly fortunate to have an 

 enlightened and enthusiastic Buildings Record 

 which now provides a remarkable resource for the 

 researcher and, in its publications, enjoyment for 

 the casual reader. 



COLIN JOHNS 



A MILLENNIUM MIXTURE 

 PART II 



In Volume 94 we considered thirty books which had 

 been published to mark the end of the second 

 millennium. We were aware that others were about 

 to be published and a further ten have now appeared 

 and these will be considered below. It is interesting 



