CHAPTER XXV
YORKSHIRE HUNTING
By Lieut.-Col. M. Borwick, D.S.O.
MASTER OF THE MIDDLETON
THERE are fifteen packs of hounds which hunt entirely in Yorkshire and three others whose territory lies in part of it. It is not easy to describe in anything like detail the features of this vast county from a hunting point of view. In it, however, there is a variety of hunting scenery and a diversity of contour which cannot be found in any other part of the British Isles.
From the low-lying territory of Holderness the country gradually rises to the Wolds, and from Malton the Howardian Hills run with their wooded slopes to Newburgh Priory for some ten miles or so. Between these, the North Yorkshire Moors and the Cleveland Hills, lie the vales of the Sinnington and Derwent Hunts. In the valley where the Rivers Swale and Ure form the Ouse is the country hunted by the Hurworth, the Bedale, and the North York and Ainsty Hunts. Lying to the west of this vale are many famous grouse moors above Middleham, Pateley Bridge, and Harrogate. Further south is the vale of York hunted by the Bramham Moor, the York and Ainsty South and the Badsworth, and that part of Yorkshire hunted by the Grove.
It is remarkable how many of the Yorkshire packs find themselves hunting from time to time on the edge of the moors; this fact accounts very largely for the stoutness and staying powers of the foxes which are hunted by them from time to time.
Despite the wildness of many tracts of Yorkshire, the march of science and the modern conditions of life are daily making fox-hunting more difficult. In the West Riding lie many large industrial towns and from these in every direction on the tarred roads made suitable for the heavy vehicles, their products are carried in a constant stream of motor traffic. For the same reason, the many railways and canals, the outcome of this industrialisation, are a constant and serious menace to the safety of hounds and to the provision of sport. For these reasons, although fox-hunting continues to flourish, there is a tendency in many parts of the county for the localisation of runs and long points are the exception rather than the rule.
In fairness to Yorkshire hunting there is one illusion which must be dispelled. For some reason those who have not had the opportunity of hunting there imagine that it is entirely a plough country. The farms certainly may be described as of the mixed variety, but most of the packs for at least two days in the week hunt foxes more often over pasture than plough.
THE BADSWORTH
Despite the fact that the Badsworth country lies very close to the industrial centres which have been previously mentioned, and that it is cut up to a very large extent by railways and canals, it still has the reputation of being one of the best scenting countries in the North of England.
Major Holliday, who hunts the hounds himself, is showing consistent sport, having bred a fine pack, the nucleus of which he brought with him from the Derwent country. It is extraordinary how Major Holliday and his hounds overcome the difficulties of a country which is so largely industrialised, and how they account for their foxes after fine hunts.
THE BEDALE
Major Burdon took over this pack in 1925, since which date the country has steadily improved from every point of view. The fox supply, at that time by no means good, has greatly improved, the wire is rapidly decreasing and sport improving with each successive year.
Major Burdon is especially fortunate in his coverts, which are carefully looked after by his energetic supporters; he has, especially at the north-eastern end of his country, much sound upland grass over which to hunt the foxes which live on the edge of the moors.
The advent of the large military centre at Catterick has confronted the Bedale Hunt with the problem of somewhat unwieldy fields. Although a fine country over which to ride, the Bedale is not adapted for crowds; very naturally the large number of officers now stationed at Catterick are anxious to participate in the fine sport which is shown literally at their front door.
THE BRAMHAM MOOR
It is a curious fact that only two names have been associated with the Mastership of this pack since it was instituted in 1793: Lascelles and Lane-Fox.
The present Earl of Harewood assumed control in 1922 and the present excellence of the pack may be attributed to the fact that the same methods have been employed in their breeding and the same lines of blood maintained for so many successive years.
During the season before last a record number of foxes was killed by these hounds and excellent sport has been shown.
Major Lascelles has deputised for his brother when Lord Harewood’s duties have kept him from the field, and so the control of the large crowds, which is so essential to sport, has not been lacking. Owing to the proximity of Leeds and Harrogate, crowds of sightseers in motor cars on certain days do add to the difficulties of hunting in this country, but with an exceptionally hard-driving pack of hounds, and with a country wherein the fox supply is exceptionally good, the followers of the Bramham Moor have every reason to congratulate themselves on the sport which falls to their lot.
THE CLEVELAND
Colonel Wharton has presided over the destinies of the Cleveland hounds from 1886 to the present day, with the exception of a short interregnum of Captain Ramsden from 1919 to 1922.
No pack of hounds demonstrates more clearly, both in the kennel and in the field, the great knowledge and experience which have been devoted to their breeding. The Cleveland is not an easy country for hounds, nor is it an easy country in which to catch foxes, owing to the used and disused iron workings which are peculiar to the slopes of the Cleveland Hills. The way in which this pack overcomes these difficulties demonstrates quite clearly that they possess the two physical characteristics so essential to a fox-hound, namely, sound feet and good shoulders. Very naturally their blood is in great demand by all the packs within reasonable reach of it.
Although the Cleveland country has certain disadvantages, it has a great compensation; the kennel is in easy reach of the coast and Colonel Wharton’s hounds are exercised on the sands at Saltburn during the summer months. This advantage solves the problem with which so many huntsmen are faced in these days, when the main roads are impossible and the few untarred by-roads have become like powdered glass.
THE DERWENT
Mr. Lockwood has given up the Mastership of these hounds which he has hunted since 1926. It is hoped, however, that the country will not be vacant long, nor should it be, for it is one which gives a greater variety than almost any in Yorkshire. It has a pleasant vale which joins the Sinnington near Pickering, and runs eastwards towards the coast. It has woods and moorland and on the whole it is a good scenting country and one in which hounds learn to hunt by themselves.
On assuming Mastership, Mr. Lockwood was faced with the problem of re-forming the pack. He has done so with great success, owing very largely to the introduction of the famous Berkeley blood, the beneficial results of which are already apparent.
THE FARNDALE
The Farndale is the only trencher-fed pack now in Yorkshire and consists of eight couples. The country is entirely moorland.
These eight couples of hounds account for their foxes in a most extraordinary manner, dragging up to them in the morning with the faintest line over the moors, then fresh finding, and it is seldom that they fail to either kill or mark their foxes to the ground.
Mr. Shaw, who hunts them for a committee, understands the art of moorland hunting as no one else, and the intimate knowledge which he possesses of his native country enables him to follow the hounds over tracts of country which, to say the least, is not adapted for riding.
There are three other moorland packs which hunt under conditions that are similar to the Farndale, the only difference being that the packs are kennelled; they are the Bilsdale, the Goathland, and the Staintondale. Their countries, like the Farndale, lie on the tract of moors between the coast and the western edge of the Hambleton Hills. They each have a small grass vale, but the remainder of their country consists almost entirely of grouse moors; the Staintondale, however, hunt the cliff between Whitby and Scarborough, which hunting is carried on on foot. It says much for the owners and lessors of these well-stocked grouse moors, that the fox supply is adequate for the sport of these three packs. It is a well-known fact that on a grouse moor the depredation of a fox is a serious matter, but these packs do find foxes and hunt them amidst beautiful surroundings and under conditions which are peculiar but in some respects ideal.
Captain Renwick, who hunts the Staintondale, is a past master in the art of hunting in any country which may be described as rough, as he demonstrated during his very successful Mastership of the Goathland and Derwent packs, and Captain Medlicott, who hunts the Goathland for a committee, is well known as a judge and handler of any and every kind of dog.
There is one difficulty with which all Masters of moorland packs are confronted; it appears that sheep which feed entirely on the moors have a peculiar smell and should one jump up in the middle of the pack in some inaccessible dale, there is a chance that unless the hounds have been reared in the district as puppies, they will kill it. If this is once done and the hounds taste blood, this terrible form of riot is sure to recur.
THE HOLDERNESS
The Holderness country is rightly considered to be the best scenting plough country in England. It possesses little pasture land, except at the extreme western end. It is notorious for the formidable drains with which the country is intersected, for its hard-riding farmers, and for its wonderful breed of horses. It is a country which is somewhat deficient in coverts, but the stick heaps and artificial earths provide lying for the foxes.
Major Hillias presides over the east end of the country and Captain Bethell over Holderness proper, to which, owing to its distance from the kennel, hounds are vanned on two days in the week. It is a country with peculiarities of its own; it is isolated, but with the advantages of isolation, and in it foxes can be hunted without the hindrances and the complications with which so many other packs are confronted.
THE HURWORTH
Colonel Gordon assumed the Mastership of these hounds after the country had been subdivided and new kennels built at Rounton. He was faced with the task of forming an almost entirely new pack, and how successful he has been is demonstrated by the good sport he has shown during last season and this. He is doing full justice to the fine country which he hunts and which is so famous for its magnificent gorse coverts and its good fox supply.
In the country there is a fair amount of grass land, and although plough predominates, it more often than not carries a holding scent.
The Hurworth has one disadvantage from the huntsman’s point of view; on the eastern edge of the country, lying on the slope of the Hambleton Hills, is Arncliffe Wood, which is difficult to hunt and more difficult to stop. Naturally foxes regard it as a sanctuary and almost invariably make for its shelter. Arncliffe Wood has caused a disappointing and unconclusive end to many a fine hunt.
THE MIDDLETON
Lord Grimthorpe and the writer took over this pack in 1921 from the late Digby Lord Middleton. He had devoted to the pack for over forty years his experience and the innate genius for breeding for which he was famous. As far as possible, the same system has been maintained, and any sport that has been shown since he gave up the hounds, may be attributed to his skill.
For the last three seasons the writer has hunted the hounds himself, during which time all sections of the community have combined to make his task as easy as possible.
The Middleton is not a good scenting country, for it is chiefly plough with soil which varies enormously in character, although inhabited by a breed of foxes which is notorious for its staying powers. There are two vales, the Farlington, bounded on one side by the big woodlands, and the Howardian Hills, wherein a tried fox can quickly shift his responsibilities to fresher shoulders.
On the south-eastern end of the country there is a good riding track stretching from Howsham to the boundary of the York and Ainsty South. This pleasant vale has the disadvantages of lying beneath the Wolds, and bounded on one side by the River Derwent. When hounds can run into the vale they can seldom push a fox on the Wolds, and on them many a promising gallop has come to an unsatisfactory termination.
However, despite some difficulties, and no country is without them, fox-hunting is a tradition which the writer ventures to think will be maintained for many years in the Middleton country.
THE EAST MIDDLETON
Captain Wickham Boynton has hunted the East Middleton country for the last three seasons and has evolved a system of hunting and killing its exceptionally stout foxes which has never been equalled.
There is no harder country to hunt than the Yorkshire Wold, for it consists of large ploughed enclosures which abound in hares and is intersected with very steep dales which are hard grazed by sheep. If a fox ever gets a lead he is very hard to come by, for unless the wind is in the east it carries a notoriously bad scent. Captain Wickham Boynton mounted on a thoroughbred horse with a very quick pack of hounds, which are kennelled at Birdsall, seldom fails to account for a fox or to provide his field with all the galloping they require.
THE SINNINGTON
Happily Lord Feversham has consented to become Major Gordon Foster’s joint Master for next season, and it is hoped that they will continue to hunt this famous pack for many years to come.
Major Foster took over the Sinnington from a committee in 1919, bringing with him some hounds from the Badsworth, and this blood, added to that which the late Mr. Sherbrook left in the kennel, has been the means of producing a pack of hounds which might well be the envy of his neighbours and is certainly the pride of his own country.
The country possesses a vale which is famous for its scenting qualities, for its well-stocked and carefully tended coverts, and for its inhabitants who support fox-hunting to a man. Were it not for the rivers which wander through this vale, from the riding point of view it would be ideal, for wire is non-existent, but as is natural with a hard-driving pack of hounds, the field are from time to time thrown out, but it has the advantage of teaching hounds to hunt the fox of their own initiative.
North and west of the Sinnington vale lie the wooded hills, dales, and moorlands which carry a good scent and where so often hounds hunt unattended and unaided.
There can be few countries in England where such an ideal fox-hunting atmosphere exists; a fact which is largely due to the personal popularity and skill of its huntsman.
THE YORK AND AINSTY
At the end of last season the York and Ainsty country was again subdivided, Mr. David Lycett-Green assuming the southern end and Lord Mountgarrett the northern.
Mr. Lycett-Green found it necessary to reconstitute his pack, and during the current season they have shown sport which has been improving week by week as the hounds have gained mutual confidence. It is reasonable to suppose that the fox supply, which at the beginning of this season seemed scarcely adequate, will rapidly improve, for no farmer in the York and Ainsty country will easily forget the happy conditions which maintained when Mr. Green’s father, the present Sir Lycett-Green, hunted the York and Ainsty country.
The York and Ainsty South are happy in having two tracts of country which are entirely composed of grass land. On their southern boundary the Foggerthorpe country is as good a riding tract as any north of the Trent. It is wild, well foxed, with fair if formidable fences, and coverts of an ideal size. The Ainsty country proper which marches the Bramham Moors on the western end, is also entirely composed of grass and over which it is possible to have the most pleasant of rides. Of late years, however, the run of the foxes has been somewhat restricted on account of three main roads which run through it from York to the West Riding. North of York there is also much good natural country where good runs and long points may be obtained, especially later in the year when foxes travel to and from the big woods of the Middleton country.
Lord Mountgarrett’s country lies north and west of that hunted by Mr. Lycett-Green. In parts of it, for some years the fox supply has left much to be desired, but as the country is to be definitely and regularly hunted, no doubt this problem will automatically right itself.
Lord Mountgarrett had to collect a pack of hounds at the beginning of this season, but he has already shown good sport, brought off some fine hunts, and a fair percentage of foxes have been brought to hand. Under his guidance all looks well for the future of this fine natural country.
THE ZETLAND
There is probably more grass in the Zetland country than in any other in Yorkshire. It can carry a wonderful scent, it is well stocked with foxes, no wire exists, and some of the large estates are still in the hands of their original owners.
The late Mr. Herbert Straker as Secretary, as Master and as Joint Master, spent a lifetime in gaining the confidence and affection of the farmers in the Zetland country. The effects of his personal popularity will be felt for many years to come; his death this autumn was a severe blow to the country.
Lord Barnard, a large landowner, has consented to carry on the pack alone and he can be constantly expected to show that sport with which the Zetland country has always been connected.
Although a fine riding country it is not an easy one to cross; the fences are varied and trappy and it requires an extremely clever horse to carry its rider in safety through the many good hunts which occur in every season.
