YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
REPORT OF THE COUNCIL 
TO THE 
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY, ON THE 2nd OF FEBRUARY, 1847. 
At the last Annual Meeting, the Council reported the comple¬ 
tion of several important and long-desired improvements, which 
Dr. Beckwith’s munificent bequest had enabled the Society to 
effect; including the extension and embellishment of the 
Gardens, the repairs of St. Mary’s Abbey, the erection of the 
Sub-Curator’s ’House, the purchase of the Swimming Bath, 
and the warming of the Museum. It was also announced that 
the Corporation of the City of York had consented to place in 
the possession of the Society the remains of the Hospital of 
St. Leonard, with so much of the area surrounding them, and 
adjoining the Roman Wall, as would allow of their being 
freed from many incumbrances, and examined with conve¬ 
nience and advantage. The Council have great satisfaction in 
stating that those incumbrances have, to a considerable extent, 
been removed, and thus the character of these interesting 
remains more clearly displayed. The clearing out of what have 
usually been called the Cloisters” of St. Leonard’s, and a partial 
excavation of the ground immediately adjoining them, have 
shown, that besides the passage to which the Archway belongs, 
these supposed Cloisters consisted originally of five, or perhaps 
six aisles, one of them furnished with a fire-place. The removal 
of the modern erections above them has opened a large space 
