CHAPTER XXIV

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

By the Earl Bathurst, C.M.G.

MASTER OF THE V.W.H. (CIRENCESTER)

GLOUCESTERSHIRE is one of the most beautiful, and perhaps the most varied county in England. It is divided into three distinct parts, the hill, the vale, and the forest. The Cotswold Hills run down in a north-easterly to south-westerly direction from the borders of War-wickshire and Oxfordshire nearly to Bath, forming a kind of great backbone the entire length of the county, the westerly side very steep, in some places almost precipices down to the vale, while on the other side rise the various springs and tributaries of the Thames, charming trout streams, which run through an extensive rolling country in a gentle slope from the escarpment and watershed, to the Thames valley, making it hard to understand why that part of the country is called the Cotswold Hills. But when you stand on the top of the highest ground, near a thousand feet above the sea, and look down over the Cheltenham, the Gloucester, or Sodbury vales, and obtain the wide and lovely view right across the Severn to the Malvern hills, the Welsh hills and Forest of Dean, or whether you look from the other, western, side of the Severn back towards that high ground, then indeed you see that they are not only real hills, but very beautiful ones to look upon. The vales are all grass, and carry a good scent, and grand sport can be had there either with the Duke of Beaufort’s, the Berkeley, the Cotswold, or Colonel Spence-Colby. The hill country being of a much lighter soil does not carry so good a scent, except on certain occasions, but there are advantages which compensate for this. The large open country, with big fields and stone walls, the light going even over the ploughs enable hounds and horses to travel a great pace, and with little to stop them one can really see hounds either race or hunt in a way that cannot be so enjoyable in the deep going of the more stiffly enclosed vale. There are some rather large woodlands in the Duke’s and Cotswold countries, as there also are on the hills above the Berkeley vale, where hounds have to hunt, and do it all themselves, as well as being able to race over the vale or open wall country.

No doubt it is partly owing to this that Gloucestershire has always been known to have first-rate packs of hounds, and that the sport has been for so many years of such a high order. The great woodlands provide the strongest and best of foxes, and long points continue to be scored at the present day in the same way that they have found a place in some of the historic runs of the past. As far back as the time of Mr. Corbet, in 1795, we read that a fox found at Wolford Wood, in Warwickshire, was run a point of twenty-three miles, and was killed not far from Cheltenham; but it is amusing to note that when measured on the map, the gigantic point of twenty-three miles is rather exaggerated, for Wolford Wood is only sixteen miles from Cheltenham, and as the fox was killed near Andoversford, three or four miles nearer, possibly twelve or thirteen miles would be more nearly the exact distance of the point. This is mentioned to show that as long ago as 130 years, the scribes of those days were guilty of the same practice of stretching a point, that so constantly occurs in accounts of hunts written by correspondents of the present time. The great Tar Wood Hunt came to an end just outside Fairford, in the V.W.H. country, and this good fox may well have been a native of Lea Wood, which is close by. To compare with these, I need only mention the great hunt the Duke of Beaufort’s hounds had only two years ago, which in time and distance is not far behind; much more would have been heard of this wonderful hunt if there had been more people out to see it.

Conditions of fox-hunting have considerably changed during the last twenty years, owing to the great increase of population, the development of the roads, and the enormously increased number of motor cars, so that however good the intention of the best of foxes may be, to make a point, there is every chance of his being headed from that point by a travelling motor car which has passed on unseen by the time hounds and their followers arrive five or ten minutes later, leaving nothing behind them but the invisible and pernicious fumes of the petrol which destroy all trace of scent. Is it not therefore wonderful that sport is so good? A ten-mile point is not out of the way but still considered good, six or seven miles is of frequent occurrence, while four or five is only well spoken of provided the pace is sufficiently fast. The pace of hounds and horses, all fit to run for their lives, militates against a long point, for if a fox is pressed at first he cannot last and go on ten or twenty miles.

Reference must now be made to some of the hunting countries of Gloucestershire. It is rather a curious fact that there are only two hunts, the Berkeley and the Cotswold, whose countries are entirely contained within the county boundary. The other Hunts spread themselves out more or less into other surrounding counties. Take the Duke of Beaufort’s, and both divisions of the V.W.H., all three of which hunt a large slice of Wiltshire. The Ledbury and Colonel Spence-Colby hunt partly in Herefordshire and Worcestershire as well as in Gloucestershire, while the Heythrop have only a fringe of north-east Gloucestershire with Stow-on-the-Wold, Farmington Grove, and Sherborne Park, but frequently make dashing gallops from those places over the V.W.H. walls towards Bibury and Williamstrip. Was it not in 1850-1870 that the fame of Jolly’s Gorse, just outside Bradwell Grove, was at its height, and crowds of people came from far and near to the popular meet at Bradwell Grove, during the Masterships of Lord Redesdale, Mr. Hall, and Mr. Albert Brassey, to see Jolly’s Gorse drawn, and take part in many a stirring gallop over either the Heythrop walls or the cream of the V.W.H. wall country towards Bibury racecourse.

How difficult it is to realise what hunting was like 130 years ago, and how the shape and size of countries have altered. It is well known that the Duke of Beaufort hunted what is now the Heythrop country, and used to go there about the middle of September until Christmas, and return in February to finish the season, which did not leave much time for hunting the Badminton country, an arrangement which went on until 1835. I remember in 1892 the 8th Duke of Beaufort describing to me how when he was young, the establishment moved from Badminton to Heythrop. Everybody that could be got on to a horse had to ride one of the hunters, the footmen and even some of the maidservants, and he told me some funny stories, the details of which I have forgotten, about the state of stiffness, soreness and exhaustion in which they arrived, especially the French cook, who was no lover of horses, after riding between forty and fifty miles. They were able to ride on grass all the way, and wagons containing luggage and other family impedimenta followed as best they could. What a business it must have been.

The earlier history of the Heythrop is little known, but as it is mixed up with the North Cotswold, and to some extent the V.W.H., it is worth mentioning here. There is evidence to show that Mr. Naper Dutton kept a pack of fox-hounds near Sherborne as the names of some of his stallion hounds appear in some early hound lists. In 1772 a Mr. Bulkeley Fretwell, of a Yorkshire family, on coming back from India, settled at Upton Wold, on the Broadway hills, and soon after established a pack of fox-hounds on the Cotswold Hills, which he hunted for twenty-four years. Mr. Fretwell was a friend of Mr. Hugo Meynell, Mr. Corbet, Mr. Noel, and Lord Fitzwilliam, and improved his hounds, which he kept at Stow-on-the-Wold, with the blood of those four crack kennels. In 1797, after Mr. Fretwell’s death, Sir Thomas Mostyn succeeded as Master of these hounds, and in 1800 took them away with him when he became the Master of the Bicester. This is interesting as it proves the origin of that celebrated pack of hounds.

One does not realise that the stone walls are comparatively a modern innovation, barely a hundred years old, and that before that the country was mostly open down or wolds, on which were large flocks of sheep. An old tenant of the Williamstrip property told me that Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, father of the first Lord St. Aldwyns, who hunted a pack of harriers, thought that when the high walls were built they would be the end of fox-hunting.

No other county can boast of two out of the five great ancestral kennels of fox-hounds, namely, the Duke of Beaufort’s and the Berkeley hounds, comparable only to the Belvoir and Brocklesby and Fitzwilliam (Milton) hounds, in that they have continued without a break for so many years in the possession of those sporting families. Here indeed in Gloucestershire still exist these two great packs of hounds, with their glory and good name undiminished. What recollections of great fox-hounds does not the mere mention of even the following names recall! The Beaufort Justice, and the Berkeley Cromwell will live as long as fox-hunting continues, and the line of their descendants is known throughout England and spoken of with respect.

The Berkeley Cromwell was by Lord Henry Bentinck’s Contest (’48), but few people know that Contest’s sire Comus (’44) was a son of the V.W.H. Lord Ducie’s Crazy (’40), bought by him as an unentered hound from Mr. Wickstead, and entered and hunted for three seasons by Lord Ducie before he sold his hounds to Lord Henry Bentinck in 1843.

The names of famous Beaufort hounds are so many that it is impossible to mention them here, and it is well known that the late Duke improved his pack by the purchase of several well-known packs of dog hounds, such as Lord Portsmouth’s, Mr. Austin MacKenzie’s, etc., and used the best sires from Belvoir, Lord Lonsdale’s, and the Brocklesby kennels. They can therefore be considered among the premier kennels of England, and carry off a large proportion of prizes at the Peterborough hound shows. Their good sport under the present young Duke, who hunts his own hounds four days a week, and bids fair to rival his father as the best amateur huntsman in England, is undeniable, and if proof is wanted that can be easily found by the attraction of enormous crowds that follow the sport, and by the popularity of the Master with the farmers who give the Hunt the same support as in former years.

In the Berkeley country the farmers are equally enthusiastic for the sport, and many of them can give a good account of themselves when hounds run over the rhynes or vale, or across their steep hills and great woodlands. The hounds still keep up their reputation of having great hunting qualities, and their blood is in great request in other kennels for the improvement of nose and cry.

The Cotswold hounds were started in 1858, after the death of the 1st Earl Fitzhardinge. Up to that date it had formed part of the Berkeley country. Colonel Berkeley, afterwards Lord Segrave, and subsequently the 1st Earl Fitzhardinge, had kennels at Cheltenham as well as at Berkeley Castle, and used to move up there from Berkeley for alternate months during the season to hunt that large tract of land which now contains both the Cotswold and North Cotswold countries, in the same way that the Duke of Beaufort migrated from Badminton to Heythrop. After the death of the 1st Earl, his successor, Admiral Berkeley, who was created 1st Baron Fitzhardinge, evidently found the country too big for him, hence the creation of the Cotswold country. Mr. Cregoe Colmore was the first Master, and had to form a new pack of hounds. He bought Lord Gifford’s hounds, with which he had hunted the V.W.H. from 1843 to 1847, to which he added a good number of hounds from Berkeley Castle. For some years Berkeley sires were used, and a good hunting pack of hounds was formed to hunt the big woodlands and rough hills of that moderately good scenting country. Some few years ago, owing to several changes of mastership, and after the retirement of Charles Travess, a wonderful huntsman, the excellence of those hounds rather declined. Now, however, with the happy appointment of two joint Masters, who are going back to Berkeley for hunting blood, all looks rosy, and with a young and keen huntsman good sport may surely be anticipated.

The North Cotswold was linked with the Cotswold from 1858, and only took its present form ten years later, when Lord Coventry undertook to hunt the northern end at his own expense, and built the existing kennels at Broadway. I like to think that is was here that the celebrated hound Lord Coventry’s Rambler ’73 was actually bred, although he was entered by Lord Coventry in the Croome country after giving up the North Cotswold. This Hunt lies partly in Gloucestershire and partly in Worcestershire, with some neutral coverts in the Warwickshire country, a fine sporting country with a good vale and some hill country as well.

The Ledbury only hunt a small part of Gloucestershire, the lovely grass vale which lies around the picturesque old town of Tewkesbury, in sight of and between the Cotswold and the Malvern hills. Its history goes back over a hundred years, and was formerly known as the Colwall Hunt. At present it is under the Mastership of Mr. Vincent Yorke, now in his third season, who is taking every care, as a keen hunting man, to show sport and breed a really good pack of hounds.

Colonel Spence-Colby only took over the western side of Gloucestershire, which was originally included in the Ledbury country, last year. He hunts his own hounds, which he brought with him from the Tivyside country. Having graduated in Wales he should know all about the hunting qualities of hounds, and being a good judge of hounds, will no doubt make his mark as an amateur huntsman, and a successful Master of Hounds.

The history of the V.W.H. would take a whole volume to describe. It was originally part of the Old Berkshire. On Lord Kintore’s retirement in 1830, the Honble. Henry Moreton, afterwards Earl of Ducie, took over the whole Old Berkshire country, but finding it was too large an area to hunt conveniently, he cut off the western end, and hunted that from 1835 to 1843, calling it the V.W.H. His Mastership was most successful, and many stories are related of him by the writers of his day, such as Surtees’ and Cecil’s Hunting Tours, Cecil’s Recollections of the Chase, and Scrutator’s Recollections of a Fox-hunter. Lord Ducie was a hard and jealous rider as was his predecessor Lord Kintore, of whom it was said that once when hunting at Burderop Park, when coming to a fence which stopped the whole field, seeing a countryman on the other side, exclaimed, “Catch my horse,” and drove his horse at it. Both fell, but the countryman did as he was bid, and picked up both horse and rider; Lord Kintore galloped away leaving his friends in mute astonishment on the wrong side of the fence.

Of Lord Ducie a story is told that on one occasion, when his whipper-in jumped a fence alongside of him into a lane, his lordship exclaimed, “Damn it, sir, I was over first.”

When Lord Ducie had to resign on account of ill-health, some troublous times came to the country. After many disputes the confines of the V.W.H. country were at last settled. During the next forty-one years as many as ten different Masters took office, with no less than seven different packs of hounds, giving an average of just over four years for each Master. Constant changes are not good for any country. But the trouble culminated in 1885 with such animosity that the country had to be divided. Mr. C. A. R. Hoare took his hounds to Cricklade and hunted one side of the country, while the 6th Earl Bathurst got together a new pack of hounds in his kennels at Cirencester Park, and hunted the west and north sides of the V.W.H. country. Mr. Hoare stayed on for only two seasons, and then sold his hounds to Mr. Butt Miller, when peace was restored. Mr. Miller’s hounds were first got together by Mr. Wharton Wilson in 1863, chiefly composed of Mr. C. P. Duffield’s old Berkshire hounds, containing much of Mr. James Morrell’s good blood, while Mr. Henley Greaves, who had hunted the V.W.H. with his own hounds, took them away with him to the old Berkshire kennels.

The V.W.H. hounds were much improved in Lord Shannon’s and Mr. Hoare’s time by the huntsman Bob Price, who had been Lord Coventry’s right-hand man at Croome. Mr. Butt Miller further improved them by the judicious selection of the best sires from the Oakley, Warwickshire, Grafton and Belvoir kennels, but, unfortunately, after twenty-two years Mr. Miller’s health gave way and this splendid pack of hounds was dispersed; his blood, however, still persists through his noted hound Worcester who was by the Grafton Woodman.

Colonel W. F. Fuller succeeded and had to form a new pack of hounds. He is now in his twentieth year of office, and can boast of a pack of hounds which while being first rate in their hunting qualities, are good enough to win prizes at Peterborough.

Modesty prevents me from saying much concerning the Cirencester division of the Hunt. Now in my thirty-eighth year, with a previous six years as field master, I have had every chance of breeding a good pack of hounds, and with the complete confidence and support of my neighbours, friends, landlords, and tenants, which are so necessary to insure good sport, I can claim that I have had a longer and happier reign than most Masters of Hounds.