The Hutchinson Chronology of World History described his work on the Kennet navigation as "[setting] a new standard for inland waterways, and is an important forerunner of the canals of the Industrial Revolution".

[1] Hore's father, also named John, was possibly a yeoman in Thatcham[1] who became a joint proprietor of the River Kennet, though the family were established and prosperous maltsters in the Newbury area.

[1] The 23-mile (37 km) section of river from Reading to Newbury has a gradient of 66 inches per mile (1.1 metres per kilometre), thus requiring locks to traverse the terrain.

The Kennet Navigation Act (1715) had allowed construction to begin, although straight away the navigation proprietors saw huge expense in employing "unskillful person[s]";[1] ten locks were built at mills on the stretch of river but the severe lack of engineering experience meant the quality of the work undertaken was poor and it progressed at an unacceptable rate, thus Hore was appointed engineer and surveyor.

Hore's work was completed in 1723 (with the towing path usable by the following year),[17] providing a navigable waterway as well as wharves and basins at Aldermaston and Newbury.

However, the navigation proprietors (appointed in 1720) dismissed Hore in 1724—he had incurred significant costs from landowners in the early 1720s, and was unable to account for these expenses to the governing body.

[18] Upon surveying the waterway, Hore found that the gradient was less than half that of the Kennet in Berkshire, leading to far fewer engineering problems.

Hore experienced a few set-backs, including the compulsory purchase of land at Sydenham Mede near Keynsham, and documentation suggests he was still involved in engineering on the Kennet at Newbury.

As a result of this, proprietors Thomas Warr Attwood, Ralph Allen and alderman Francis Bave wrote to Hore, threatening to give more autonomy to Marchant should Hore not expedite his work: The Water breaks in so fast upon the Low part of our Work at Keynsham that there is an absolute Necessity for the screw or some other Engine to be Erected at that Place.

Mr Downs's letter will acquaint you with the Draught of the Three Common Pumps that are now upon that Place wth his Sentements of the additionall helps that is Necessary for the Draining of the Work, but that no disapointment may retard an affair of this Consequence we have sent Mr Marchant on Purpose with this letter who will acquaint you fully with the manner of the obstruction, advise with and be directed by you for the Imediat removall of it, and as the works in that Cut are now in considerable forwardness we must desire that you will soon be with us to direct ye finishing of that and Hanhams Lock, but if your affairs upon the Newbury River will not admit of your speedy attendance here, we must desire you to give Mr Marchant full directions for his Proceeding til we can have your Personal Assistance that our Undertaking may not Suffer by any Unnecessary delays.The committee also urged Hore to purchase screw engines from the Kennet project, justifying that "this appears to us the Speediest Method" to complete lock work.

[22] Within a week, the committee order the project to be put on hold to allow Hore and Downs to submit detailed plans of the canal between Swineford and Bath.

[25] This, coupled with the fact that the Act specified for the river to be made navigable (and not for the construction of a separate canal), meant that Hore's recommendations were never realised.

[18] In 1733, Hore was appointed by James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, to work on the grounds at his Shaw House estate in Newbury.

[2] According to his will, drawn up in 1753, Hore was living at Ham Mills in Thatcham, and he was to leave his land, property and shares connected with the River Kennet to his sister-in-law, Ann Cook.

L. T. C. Rolt writes that Hore had a son who became resident engineer on Rennie's project to build a canal linking the Kennet and Avon navigations.

[31] This work used Great Western Railway broad-gauge rails and sleepers (made available after the "gauge war") to rebuild the lock chambers.

[34] In the Hutchinson Chronology of World History, Hore's work on the Kennet is described as "[setting] a new standard for inland waterways, and is an important forerunner of the canals of the Industrial Revolution".

[3] Despite praise for Hore's work on the waterways, William Fordyce Mavor recognised that even by the 1810s—when Rennie's canal was completed—Hore's name and association with the navigations had disappeared into "oblivion".