By the Rev. Canon J. E. Jackson, F.S.A. 



49 



a private dwelling and shop, has in its front a stone on which is the 

 following* : " Here is a stone stand in the wall, to testifie this is 

 Whitehall, I.H.M. 1704." At the back still exists the place 

 formerly used as cells, and in the house itself is a capacious cellar, 

 which tradition affirms was for the use of the justices. In 1790 it 

 was the property of Lord Abingdon, and was known as " The 

 Council House/'' 1 



1 The same " correspondent " gives the following account of a singular 

 discovery of coins at this place : " At the bottom of the hill coming from 

 Westbury, and just at the angle caused by the junction of the road that 

 leads from Ball's Water, stood an old house known as the ' George Inn.' In 

 its latter days, some fifty years ago, it had fallen into decay. At one time 

 it had been a place of some importance, and was in fact a large building. 

 As people failed to get a living there it remained unoccupied and gradually 

 tumbled down, till it became in such a ruinous state that it was demolished 

 and the woodwork stored away in a shed near at hand. This shed was not 

 fastened ; consequently those cottagers living near made free use of the debris 

 to burn or for any other purpose. Some forty-five years since a man still 

 residing in Chalford, was returning home — the period of the year was about 

 Christmas time— and as he passed the place where the old George Inn had 

 stood, he picked up a piece of wood about six feet long. The finder carried 

 the wood to his cottage only a few yards off, and it being too long to bum 

 took a saw to cut it in pieces. He, however, failed to do so as the wood 

 was too hard. He then noticed a mortice, and thinking the tool would bite 

 in that place he again essayed to cut the piece, but the saw stopped half-way 

 through. Enraged at his failure the man took the wood up by one end and held 

 it over his head and brought the other end violently on the stone floor, causing 

 the piece to fracture just at the part half sawed through, and out rolled 

 ninety-nine gold coins. The man, frightened, ran out of the house, and the 

 news quickly spreading, the neighbours flocked in to inspect the pieces, which 

 had been collected on a plate. An old pensioner, who was looked on as an 

 oracle, declared the coins to be worthless, and the finder offered to take a 

 sovereign for the lot. They had been wrapped in a piece of rag and laid in a 

 roll in a hollow that had been scooped out of the wood, and a piece nailed 

 down on them ; it was in this part that the finder attempted to saw, and 

 one of the coins was found to have been partly cut through by the tool. 

 The same evening, or the next day after the discovery, a man who employed 

 the finder, obtained from him all the money on the understanding that a full 

 account should be given of it, and said he to the finder : ' May my right arm 

 wither if I fail to give you the full value.' From that hour till now the 

 finder has never had a penny, and it is said and believed, too, that the arm 

 of the man who had the coins actually did wither ; in fact he was never after 

 in possession of the use of his arm." 



VOL. XXIV. — NO. LXXII. B 



