Local patriotism, enlisting the services of half a dozen experts,
has made The History of Scarborough, edited by Arthur Rowntree (Dent, 21s.), a model of its kind. In this large and handsome volume the editor and his contributors— Dr. Mortimer Wheeler, Mr. R. G. Collingwood, Dr. Hamilton Thompson, Mr. D. Montgomerie, Professor A. J. Grant, Mr. M. Black and Miss Jean Rowntree—treat the subject ex- haustively and authoritatively, with prints, diagrams and photographs on a lavish scale. Mr. Collingwood's account of the Roman signal station, for instance, is the fullest yet printed, and the description by Mr. Montgomerie of the im- portant castle, which sustained many sieges, is equally good. Scarborough up to the end of the eighteenth century was esteemed for its harbour and its shipyards, and this chapter in its history is of great interest. At one time in the Civil War it was the only East Coast port controlled by King Charles, and it changed hands more than once. Later chapters deal with the rise of the popular watering-place, with the local government, the religious bodies and citizens past and present.
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