Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 3.djvu/133

 s. iii. FEB. 11, 1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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established. I shall be as glad as my neighbours. We should have had a splendid army about 70,000 English in tip-top order, besides Turkish contingent and Germans. We were busy looking to our men's appointments, &c., to be ready for the field, and are so still ; but can't enter into the spirit of the thing, knowing that it will be of no use. We may have one more campaign, and, if so, you will see what our arms can do. If one only reflects on the dreadful waste of life caused by war, he never would wish for its prolongation. For instance, take the case of the 46th Regiment :

Men Left England from first to last (exclusive of

officers) 1,287

Died in camp 270

In hospital at Scutari 288

Invalided to England (many of

whom died) 185

752 752

Our present strength 535

And there are many regiments have been as much cut up a sad waste of life, so the sooner it is over the better.

T. F. D.

THE PROPOSED TEMPLE BRIDGE AND COUNTY HALL. The much-discussed proposal of Mr. Bennett to build a new bridge across the Thames east of Somerset House, and erect thereon an arcaded building to accommodate the London County Council and its staff, has not as yet been recorded in these pages. The principal features of the structure are to be its fine hall, a tower rising 445 ft. from the bridge, and the entire use of its roadway for electric trams, &c., with footpaths on either side.

The whole suggestion has been described in some detail and illustrated in The Daily Graphic, 7 January, Daily Chronicle and Morning Leader, 9 January.

Mr. Bennett refers to old London Bridge and the existing Ponte Yecchio at Florence as suggestions of this ambitious scheme, but he apparently quite overlooked the proposal brought forward by Mr. Thomas Mosley, civil engineer, of Bristol, who in 1843 suggested improving Waterloo Bridge in almost an identical manner. The Pictorial Times for 5 August, 1843, contains three excellent illustrations and a long explanatory note of the idea :

" The first sketch represents the elevation of a structure proposed and designed by Mr. Thomas

Mosley to^be erected over the whole length and

breadth of Waterloo Bridge, constituting a room or

gallery with an uninterrupted promenade in the

middle of the room the whole length of the building. It is also proposed to construct a conservatory over the room extending the length of the three centre

arches The fabric will be supported either

entirely by cast-iron pillars and arches or by a

combination of stone and iron The room or

gallery is proposed to be appropriated to the exhibition and sale of works of art, scienae, and literature, from all parts of the world, and to be denominated the European Universal Gallery [:].

The undertaking is an extensive one ; but as

the bridge has hitherto, in a monetary point of view, been a failure, it is more than probame that the projected change will be made, since the rent of the proposed arcade would be a source of permanent revenue.' 1

The design was submitted to Prince Albert,, but it did not advance beyond the discussion stage. Probably it was too bold an under- taking for the times. ALECK ABRAHAMS.

RECENT FINDS IN WESTMINSTER. The whole of the district in the immediate neighbourhood of the Abbey is of much interest, but perhaps Great College Street and some of the adjacent streets nave the greatest claim upon our attention, for there- abouts have been found, at different times,, many evidences clearly bringing out the antiquity of this spot. The hand of the spoiler has been sadly felt here, and to all appearance will, in the near future, be laid heavily upon it again. In my various notes on 'Westminster Changes' I have alluded to much that has been begun, and the shoring- up of other houses indicates that much more is intended. I now wish merely to call attention to some of the relics of the past found in the small area bounded by Tuftort Street (a portion of which was long known as Bowling Street, and yet earlier as Bowling. Alley) on the west, the mill-stream or Great College Street (which figures on so many old maps as the " Dead Wall ") on the north., and Barton Street on the east. This plot of ground had upon it many houses, in two blocks, divided by a little court or alley, now- done away with and built over, known as Black Dog Alley (see 10 th S. ii. 5, 118, 174). Most of the houses were of reputed eighteenth- century work, although experts haveexpressed an opinion that there were traces in some of them pointing to a seventeenth - century origin. This space of ground has been cleared, and upon it have been erected a house for the Cowley Fathers, and a building to be utilized by Westminster School. The old mill-stream formerly meandered along the line of Great College Street, and during recent excavations traces were noticed of a brick culvert or bridge; and in what was formerly the course of the stream were dis- covered a variety of small articles, while others were found within a score of feet thereof. These were shown at a recent meeting of the Architectural Association by Mr. E. Prioleau \Yarren, who had prepared