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KINGSCLERE 



beyond, in the direction of the village. At a peri- 

 patetic meeting of the Hampshire Field Club, 

 which was held in the summer of 1895, Mr. T. W. 

 Shore, the organising secretary, halting in this 

 neighbourhood, said it was to be hoped a spirited 

 individual would some day put down a deep boring 

 to know whether there was coal or anything else. 

 In that part of the country no geologist could tell 

 what might be found perhaps five hundred feet 



COACHMAN'S COTTAGE 



down. Of all the districts in the south of England 

 that was one of the most likely, which rendered it 

 desirable that a trial boring should be made. If 

 coal was found they should at once have a remedy 

 for agricultural distress thereabouts. It might be 

 submitted, perhaps, that, pending the discovery of 

 coal, or the adoption of any heroic palliative for the 

 distress in question, so far as Kingsclere itself is 

 concerned, the neighbourhood is not so badly off, 

 and that no small amount of the prosperity which is 



