The Life of a Great Sportsman 



As for the houses that form the village of Great Limber, 

 they consisted when Maunsell was born, as they do now — with 

 the exception of the house that the late Lord Yarborough built 

 for my brother's occupation — of five principal residences, the 

 rest being cottages. There are the village shops — one being 

 dignified by the possession of the post-office — and the inn, 

 which still rejoices in the name of the " New Inn," although 

 some one hundred years have passed since its foundation stones 

 were laid. 



The largest of these five houses was known as Great 

 Limber House, or more often called by the villagers " The 

 Top House," as it stands at the extreme east end of the 

 village, generally regarded as the " Top." It is a fine specimen 

 of Georgian brickwork, and is surrounded by a large grass 

 homestead — so large, in fact, that one half of its space was 

 enough for the setting up of three of the regulation-size 

 hurdles, and a good gallop round, which ensured the u taking 

 down the back " of a too fresh horse, as ours were often wont 

 to be, upon first leaving their stables. And that the homestead 

 was large enough for this necessary adjunct to good horseman- 

 ship was all that concerned us, the then inhabitants of the 

 11 Top House," from childhood upwards. 



If you walk through the west gate of this homestead — for 

 though the inhabitants of the "Top House " have unfortunately 

 changed, the House and grounds are the same — you come into 

 the village. As you walk past solidly built brick cottages, 

 generally gable-ended, with gardens back and front — the front 

 garden bright with flowers — everywhere you see signs of the 

 well-being of the farm labourer, and the kindly care of the 

 respective landlords. 



These cottages are built on each side of a pleasantly broad 

 street, curving somewhat to the left, as you pass down from 



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