We
understand that it needs repair and is in some danger. The aid of the
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings has been called in,
and their report has been sent to the civic authorities, who will, we
hope, adopt their recommendations and deal kindly and tenderly with
this most interesting structure.
Another famous guild hall is in danger, that at Norwich. It has even
been suggested that it should be pulled down and a new one erected,
but happily this wild scheme has been abandoned. Old buildings like
not new inventions, just as old people fear to cross the road lest
they should be run over by a motor-car. Norwich Guildhall does not
approve of electric tram-cars, which run close to its north side and
cause its old bones to vibrate in a most uncomfortable fashion. You
can perceive how much it objects to these horrid cars by feeling the
vibration of the walls when you are standing on the level of the
street or on the parapet. You will not therefore be surprised to find
ominous cracks in the old walls, and the roof is none too safe, the
large span having tried severely the strength of the old oak beams. It
is a very ancient building, the crypt under the east end, vaulted in
brickwork, probably dating from the thirteenth century, while the main
building was erected in the fifteenth century.
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