15 OCTOBER 1921, Page 21

The forty-fourth Report of the Society for the Protection of

Ancient Buildings (A. R. Powys, 20 Buckingham Street, Adelphi, 2s.) is, as usual, highly interesting and charmingly illustrated. The society has been successful during the past year in forwarding some good schemes of restoration and in thwarting several bad ones. It is a vigilant watch-dog over the fine buildings bequeathed to us by our ancestors. We may draw attention to the delightful cottages at Lavenham, Suffolk, which were judiciously repaired last year ; three bays of a mediaeval shop-front were found under the worn plaster. The old town hall at Faringdon was restored with care and skill as a war memorial, instead of being demolished, as the local Philistines had proposed. The old and derelict " Coffee Tavern " at Midhurst has also been saved from the house- breaker. The society expresses uneasiness about the nineteen City churches which were threatened with destruction by a diocesan committee.