REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR 1915. 
Vll 
In last year’s report reference was made to the unsatisfac¬ 
tory condition of the roof of the Ambulatory of St. Leonard’s 
Hospital, but at that time the estimated cost of repairs was 
thought to be prohibitory. During the past year the question 
was again considered by your Council, and reduced estimates 
were obtained. The roof has been cleared to the stonework 
of the groined arches, a thickness of some two feet of porous 
soil under the asphalte removed, and a reduced thickness of 
reinforced concrete substituted with a fall to each side, and it 
is hoped that this will keep out the wet. In digging a drain 
across the main gateway a cobbled road, which may be of 
Roman workmanship, was discovered some two feet below the 
surface of which no previous record was known to exist. 
During the past year the Upper Room of the Hospitium has 
been thoroughly cleaned and painted and the whole of the 
exhibits dusted and washed. 
In August last an Assistant Caretaker and Librarian was 
appointed to take over part of the clerical work and prepare a 
complete Catalogue of the Library. Mr. Robertshaw entered 
upon his duties in August and continued them for between 
two and three months, when he joined His Majesty’s Forces 
along with Edward Hall, the under gardener, they being the 
only two employees remaining in our service of military age. 
An opportunity arose in June last of acquiring three more 
houses in Bootham adjoining and obscuring the Abbey Wall, 
and though the time was most unsuitable for making an appeal 
for subscriptions, your Council felt that such a chance might 
not recur and that they were bound to avail themselves of it. 
Through the prompt action of Dr. Evelyn the house occupied 
by Mr. Wakefield was secured at the auction sale for £400, 
and has been conveyed to the York Corporation on the 
understanding that it is pulled down within five years. The 
Corporation contributed £150 towards the price and the 
remainder was raised by public subscription. The other two 
houses, Nos. 32 and 34 Bootham, adjoin the site cleared in 
1895, and have been provisionally purchased by the Philo¬ 
sophical Society with a view to pulling them down at some 
future date ; in the meantime the rents produce a satisfactory 
interest upon the outlay. 
