PREFACE. 



In response to a frequently expressed desire that the Local Notes and Queries 

 and other articles on Hampshire antiquities appearing in The Hampshire Independent 

 should be reprinted in a more convenient form for permanent reference than is 

 afforded by the columns of a weekly newspaper, which too few think worthy of 

 preservation, this little book has been prepared as an instalment, to be followed by 

 others if warranted by sufficient support being enlisted. 



It has often too been suggested that there should be some permanent record of 

 the meetings of the Hampshire Field Club. This Club is doing much by its 

 periodical visits to various parts of the county to make known many interesting 

 features in out of the way corners, and to elicit an interest in local antiquities, 

 which has already borne fruit in increased study and better preservation. The 

 only full and regularly published reports of these meetings are those of The 

 Hampshire Independent, and the republication of these will doubtless be welcomed 

 by many besides members of the Club. 



Some perhaps may also value the republication of the weekly weather tables 

 of the Ordnance Survey Office, Southampton, and the monthly weather reports 

 contributed by Mr. T. Westlake, of Fordingbridge, and for naturalists generally 

 there are articles on the zoology, botany and geology of the county. 



Among the contributors may be named the Rev. W. Benham, F.S.A. ; Rev. J. 

 Silvester Davies, M.A., F.S.A. ; the late Charles Roach Smith, F.S.A. ; Mr. T. W. 

 Shore, F.G.S., F.C.S. ; Mr. W. J. C. Moens, C.C. ; &c. 



In the arrangement it has been found convenient to follow the order of publica- 

 tion of the issues in which the various articles appeared. 



The value of the book will be much enhanced by a very full index of several 

 thousand references. 



