and used as a market, and above is the large hall, and the rooms for public business.  The clock turret and ornamented gable were added in commemoration of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee of 1887.  Little else calls for notice, but the group of timber gables in the corner near the churchyard will certainly attract the eye by their picturesque grouping.  The most prominent of these gables is carved with a flowing design, and in the upper angle can be seen a large T, and some smaller letters which have not been deciphered.  Above the chimneys rise the tower and spire of All Saints Church.

[Illustration:  In the Market Place, Evesham]

The breadth of High Street may be accounted for by the supposition that the roadsides in this direction were broad and grass-grown, and used for the market, which was large and important.  Indeed, until quite lately, the fairs now carried on in a closed market were held in the open street, the animals being penned up by hurdles.  Bordering the green sward houses would have sprung up to cater for the wants of the farmers and drovers, and, as the town grew larger, a continuous line of street would be formed, and the grass edge would naturally be paved for cleanliness and convenience.  The irregularity of the houses in shape, size, and colour will at once strike the visitor.  The primitive timber has been almost entirely superseded by the more “respectable” and secure brick front, but the interiors and the backs of the houses show that the construction is often really of wood with a thin veneer of old-fashioned respectability.  High Street leads on to Green Hill, now severed from the town by the railway, and becomes the main road northwards.  Near the end of the street, towards the railway stations, is a building of stone and brick thinly coated with plaster, roofed with stone tiles, and with a recessed porch and balcony.  The railing of the balcony especially should be noticed, being of unusual design, and very likely the work of the local blacksmith more than two hundred years ago.  The name, Almswood, reminds us that here was once a wood belonging to the office of the Almoner to the Abbey.  On the same side of the street, nearer the centre of the town, is another interesting house.  It is a mansion of brick, and in front are some very fine railings fixed on a low wall of stone.  The door, which is in the middle of the front, is approached by wide steps, and over it is a heavy canopy supported by wrought-iron brackets of decorated scroll work.  This house belonged to a certain Thomas Cookes, whose family were large landowners in the neighbourhood of Tardebigg in the northern part of the county, and was built by him in the time of King William III.  It contains a fine staircase, ornamental fireplaces, and panelled walls.  At the back is a paved yard enclosed by short wings, and from here a stairway and tunnel lead under a narrow street into what was once a large and beautiful garden.  Though now sadly curtailed