viii report of the council for 1915. 
New locks have been fitted to the various entrance gates and a 
fresli supply of keys provided for our members. The facilities 
offered by the Marygate entrance have in the past been much 
abused owing to members neglecting to close the gate, and your 
Council would appeal to all members to do their best to prevent 
this abuse in the future. The garden walks have been re-asphalted 
at a considerable expense. 
In April last, three of the old cottages in Bootham, abutting 
upon the Abbey wall, were about to be pulled down, and plans 
were before the streets and Buildings Committee of the York 
Corporation for the erection of new shops in their place. Your 
Council felt that the opportunity should not be lost of exposing to 
view a further part of the picturesque old wall, which originally 
encircled the extensive precincts of the great Abbey of St. Mary’s, 
and dated back to the thirteenth century. Encouraged by the 
memory of the success of a similar effort in 1895, which resulted 
in opening out to view St. Mary”s angle tower and a small portion 
of the Abbey wall near to Bootham Bar, your Council decided 
again to appeal through the local press for funds to purchase the 
three cottages referred to. The appeal was cordially supported by 
the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society and 
met with a generous response, led by the owners of the property 
who promptly came forward with a handsome donation ; the York 
Corporation co-operated with us, by a contribution of £"400 on 
agreed conditions, and subscriptions amounting to nearly ^500 
were quickly raised. The site was thus secured and vested in the 
Corporation, who will shortly complete the work. This section of 
the Abbey wall includes an interesting circular tower, which is 
exposed to view, and will not again be hidden. 
Amongst the choicest treasures of our Museum the three 
Sheldonian Tapestry-Maps, which formerly hung round the old 
Lecture Theatre, have always held a high place. The) 7 date back 
to the reigns of Oueen Elizabeth and the early Stuarts, and form 
the greater part of the unique series of five or six tapestry-maps 
believed to be the earliest tapestries of English design and manu¬ 
facture of which only two or three others are known to exist. 
After a chequered history they were presented to us in 1832, by 
Archbishop Vernon Harcourt, one of the original founders of our 
Society. Of the three tapestries, the one which had long hung 
over the lecturer’s table in the old theatre had become almost 
black by exposure to gas fumes; another was much in need of 
