264 KINGSCLERE 



But it was pregnant with enormous possibili- 

 ties, the inception of it was undoubtedly daring, and 

 consequently the trial ranks with the most remarkable 

 amongst cases of bank forgeries. The man who 

 produced the notes admitted that he had been 

 engaged in printing forged Bank of England notes 

 since 1846 ; and that he had printed those on 

 genuine paper, stolen from the mill. What made 

 the detection of robbery and forgery comparatively 

 easy was the fact that the paper was sized, but not 

 glazed, and no paper was ever sent from the mill 

 before being glazed. 



Leaving the fringe of the Downs, with its varied 

 associations, and passing with a mere word of 

 recognition as we revert to the centre one of the 

 4 Boures ' which Fair Rosamond had ' atte parke of 

 Freemantel,' we come with John Porter on to what 

 for a period of thirty-three years has been his train- 

 ing ground, and thereby bring this discursive survey 

 up to date. Those who would be geologically 

 acquainted with the immemorial turf which spreads 

 over upland and valley may learn from Mr. Shore 

 that a large area of the chalk Downs on the south of 

 Kingsclere must have been open downland in the 

 Celtic period, when forest land and heath land 

 extended along the northern part of the country 

 from the outcrop of the chalk, over the areas 

 covered with clay, loam, sand, and gravel, into 

 Berkshire. Nature marked out the site of Kings- 

 clere as a desirable one for an early settlement, a 

 site having a good water supply — and such water! 



