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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. By O. G. S. CRAWFORD, F.B.A., F.S.A. HE honour you have done me by electing me as your President for the forthcoming year is one that I appreciate highly and Tfor which I thank you. Like our retiring President, I am a Hampshire man, and we both have a particular affection for the lower reaches of the Test valley, where we live. I shall try, during my term of office, to emulate him and to be present at as many of our Field Meetings as possible ; and I hope that we shall often see him there too. These peregrinations through the country are, in my considered opinion,, of very great value not only to ourselves, but to the County and country. They show people that there are quite a number of people who obviously take an interest in things old and things beautiful, in the physical structure of our country and the earlier forms of life that inhabited it, in the birds and plants that now live here. Without such occasional demonstrations their existence is in danger of being overlooked by those whose eyes have not been opened to the interesting tilings that swarm around them, if they only knew it. To take antiquities only : In the course of my own field-work I have come across several instances outside Hampshire where people have refrained from damage or destruction not from any interest of their own, but simply because they know that others are interested in them; and because they are decent people they respect that interest, even without sharing it. Sometimes people are proud of having on their land, or in their village a camp, barrow, building or other relic of the past which has been visited by " the Archaeological Society." Thus by dis- playing our interest and getting it recorded in the local newspapers, we do help occasionally to save something from the mounting holocaust of destruction. We do so also in other ways. Had we not existed, and what is equally important, had we not the services of so watchful and efficient a Secretary, such discoveries as that of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, in King's Worthy Park would have passed unnoticed, or perhaps been looted. We have to thank him for the prompt action which avoided this catastrophe; and for many other such inter- ventions. ; ; . This question of conservation is one of great urgency, and having now the opportunity, which you have given me, of expressing not just my own personal opinion, but that of the Field Club generally, I want.to explain what we think and feel about con- servation.. To begin- with, we are not,, as is sometimes thought, blind obstructionists, but reasonable people.; there.is surely no 2 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB need to enlarge upon this.' Then again, we claim that we are not peculiar and slightly eccentric reactionaries, but merely, ordinary people who have somehow acquired an added pleasure in life—one which can also be acquired by anyone who cares to open his own mind and his .eyes. .That this is possible, for. anyone at any age I can prove to you from my own experience. Until about 19401 was chiefly interested in earthworks and suchlike remains to be found in the. open country/ Then my attention was turned to the anti- quities of towns, and my eyes were opened, I am ashamed to say for. the first time, to the beauty of the houses and doorways of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. Hitherto I had never really seen them at all; but when it became my duty to photograph them, I suddenly discovered them, and a new pleasure was added to life. Now a 'bus ride through'almost any provincial town is a voyage of exploration. One takes pleasure in marking the nice variations of the same style, like the modulations of motif in a symphony, that one sees in the doorways of Bristol, Liverpool, Dublin or Kilkenny, as compared, for-instance, with those of the south coast of England. So too one can always spend a few profit- able moments looking at the older tombstones in a churchyard and comparing the local craftsmanship of. Hampshire with that of Dorset or of southern England with that of Scotland and Ireland. In Hampshire (e.g. at Dibden and Eling) there is evidence of a local style of some distinction which flourished about. 1750 to 1780 ; and the superb stone of Portland is partly responsible for a splendid group in that island and on the adjacent mainland. Having acquired this new source of enjoyment one is naturally anxious to share it with others and thus double it. That is why we. want these things preserved. Perhaps most people would, if pressed, agree that things which are not only old but also in some way beautiful as well, or at any rate attractive to look upon, should be preserved from unnecessary destruction: But what about those which are merely old ?—a piece of rough, walling, a cellar or an earthen bank ? I would answer that to me even such things have acquired by the lapse of time an element of beauty. But it is not possible to prove this to one who does not feel i t ; one can only describe one's own reactions, and leave it at that. A fragment of man's handiwork which has survived the passage of long time is also a piece of history ; it quickens one's historical imagination in a way that nothing else can. There is the same thrill to be got from handling an ancient document, quite apart from the intrinsic value of its contents. Not all such relics can, of course, be preserved ; but if you feel like this about them, you will want to preserve them, and where there's a will there is generally a way. Our business,- as a Society and as individuals, is to try and impart this feeling to others ; and one of the best ways of doing so is to express it by our actions. So we come back to PAPERS AND PROCEEDINGS . 3 where we started—the importance of our Field Meetings, which by publicly demonstrating our interest, may arouse the same 'emotion in others and keep it alive. • We shall have an opportunity of doing so at several of those which have been planned, and I will mention in particular the one we hope to have at Newport, where there are some very beautiful early 18th century houses and doorways. By going to look at them we shall not only be having a pleasant experience ourselves, but shall be attracting the attention of others who may-thus come to share it. If there should then be any risk of alteration or even destruction, which, I hasten to add, is not so far as I -know threat- ened, then the fact that we went there to admire them will strengthen the hands of those who wish to save them. I mention this instance because there is a very real danger that an even finer group of 17th and 18th century houses in Poole may be swept away in the alleged interests of what is mis-called progress. One of the best ways of opening people's eyes to all these new interests is a museum. We have a museum at Winchester, and it contains some objects of the highest artistic, historical and archaeo- logical, value. Amongst the first class are some carved stone capitals from Hyde Abbey, dating from the 12th century, and of a-very high degree of artistic merit. Elsewhere they would be deemed worthy of honourable display on revolving stands—perhaps even of a special room ; and I am glad to see that some even better examples are now so displayed in the church of St. Bartholomew. In passing, I would mention that it was our former President, Mr. C. J. P. Cave, who first drew attention to them, photographed them and published a description in the Antiquaries' Journal. Amongst objects of historical importance in the museum is nothing less than the tombstone of Alfred the Great I It is true that it is not the original one, but the inscription on it seems to have been cut during the 12th century, according to the opinion of Sir Frederic Kenyon, a very high authority on such matters. Probably it was made when Hyde Abbey was transferred from its first site, or at the time of its rebuilding after the fire. It is recorded elsewhere that at this transference the body of King Alfred was moved, and it is quite probable that this may have been the pedestal of a com-' memorative statue of him. It has- quite a good pedigree, and is surely worthy of honourable display. I hope it will not be thought. that I am casting any reflection upon those responsible, now and in the past, for looking-after the museum. I have known them all, and can recall the .great services rendered to the Museum by the late Mr. and Mrs. Hooley, and of recent years by Mr. Moggridge. They have given of their best, and all honour to them. But the time is coming when some new arrangement will have to be made. Museum curatorship is how recognised as an exacting whole-time profession, closely allied to education. The proper maintenance- 4 HAMPSHIRE FIELD CLUB of a museum is a social duty as incumbent as the provision of bodily- needs, and there need be no conflict between them. The appoint- ment of an adequately- remunerated full-time curator, with a grant ' for upkeep and purchases, would not delay the building of a single house.

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