Welsh Journals

modest beginnings in 1864 until the bankruptcy of Savin two years later put an end to the building. But by then Seddon's main ideas for the hotel had been realized. He had constructed a group of buildings consisting of the original extension southwards in the direction of the castle, to which was soon added the extension northwards, with Castle House in the middle. Judging by the photographs, it is extraordinary how successfully Seddon's structures on either side of Castle House blended in with the spirit of the original house. This was the building which was bought for the knock-down price of £ 10,000 in 1867 by the committee of the movement to establish a university college in Wales. As Roger Webster observes, it was a luxurious building of much beauty, combining the picturesque and the sublime, elements of Gothic and Renaissance France, all coming together to give it a feeling of gravitas which made it an ideal symbol for the Welsh university movement. How Seddon adapted the building for its new purposes is described in admirable and satisfying detail, with a wealth of illustrations, plans, photographs and sketches, and it is remarkable how delightfully the hand of its architect can everywhere be seen in some of the smallest details, in carvings, windows and coloured lights. He draws one's attention to the superb proportions of the main entrance on the northern side and to the main staircase and ceiling, and enables one to visualize what the main entrance hall would have been like before its conversion into a library. It is an exciting building to walk around, and equally a fine one to explore inside. This book opens up the building in ways which enormously enrich one's experience of it, and it is a fitting memorial to a scholar who, having worked in the building for so many years, dedicated what remained of his life to the writing of a book which should be worthy of its subject. IEUAN GWYNEDD JONES Aberystwyth CRIME AND Policing IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY: THE SOUTH WALES EXPERIENCE. By David J. V. Jones. University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1996. Pp. xix 328. £ 15.95. During his relatively short career David Jones carved a significant niche for himself as a social historian of modern Wales. He published important monographs on popular disorder before Rebecca and on the Rebecca troubles themselves; he brought a fresh perspective to Chartism; more recently his attention focused on crime and policing. A collection of essays