THE VILLAGES OF ENGLAND By A. K. Wickham
Mr. A. K. Wickham has written a useful and attractive book on The Villages of England (Botsford, 12s. 6d.) which will give hints to the tourist in search of the picturesque and which will also, we hope, add strength to the societies that are trying to preserve this unique national heritage. The_ autkor divides England into five geological regions, and describes typical villages in each with the help of a hundred good photographs, some pen-drawings and a map. The nature of the soil largely determined the materials used in the three centuries between 1500 and. 1800, during -which most villages assumed their present form, and Mr. Wickham's brief notes contrasting, say, the half-timbered Essex cottage, with the stone cottage of the Cotswolds or- the cob house- of Devon are distinctly helpful. Many authorities have discussed the architecture of the church or the manor-house, but -the humbler dwellings have not received so much attention as they deserve, more especially from the architects and builders employed by housing com- mittees, who-se atandardizeci horrors. deface So Many country places Mr: Wickhanrs- book is Is -g,00d-intrOduction to this
fascinating subject. ' .. -
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