SPORT ANCIENT AND 



MODERN 



THE county of Northampton has 

 always been considered one of 

 the chief centres of hunting in 

 England. There existed in 

 early times two immense tracts 

 of land, in great part covered with wood, 

 which after the Conquest were subject to the 

 forest laws, and became the hunting grounds 

 of the Plantagenets. One was the royal forest 

 of Whittlewood or Whittlebury, lying to the 

 south-west of Northampton and including 

 Salcey Forest and Yardley Chase. The other 

 was the royal forest of Rockingham, lying to 

 the north-east of Northampton and including 

 Brigstock Forest and Geddington Chase. 

 These forests and chases were well stocked 

 with game of all kinds, and as Northampton 

 is midway between Winchester and York 

 (the ancient capitals of England), the Norman 

 kings frequently resided at Buckingham Castle 

 and the hunting lodges at King's CiifFe, Gcd- 

 ington, and Whittlebury. 



We learn from the Chronicon Petroturgense, 

 that in 1286(14-15 Edw. I) the abbot of Peter- 

 borough claimed the right of having his hounds 

 unmutilated in all his demesnes and manors, 

 in order that he might hunt the wolf, fox, and 

 wild cat.' The lord abbot was also very 

 particular in claiming his tithe of all venison 

 killed within the royal forests in the county. 

 This right was secured to him by the king's 

 charters, and in 1279 the Abbot Richard estab- 

 lished this right before the itinerant justices. 

 With the inclosure of the common fields in 

 the county, which commenced in 1733, fox- 

 hunting began to assume the ascendancy it 

 holds at the present time ; and with this 

 change both huntsmen and hounds entirely 

 altered their character, and a new style of 

 fast riding gradually came into fashion. The 

 first authentic records of the Grafton and 

 Pytchley foxhounds commence about this 

 period, and continue unbroken to the present 

 time. 



THE ROYAL BUCKHOUNDS 



Her late Majesty's staghounds were the 

 descendants of the old Royal Buckhounds, 

 which had their origin in the county of North- 

 ampton. A very full account of these buck- 

 hounds and their connexion with this county, 

 is contained in The Family of Brocai of 

 Beaurepalre, by Prof. Montagu Burrows, and 

 by the courtesy of the author of this book 

 we are able to give the following particulars 

 of the hunt, and of the hunter's manor of 

 Little Weldon. It appears that King Henry II 

 granted certain lands and the lordship of the 

 manor of Little Weldon in this county to one 

 of the Levels. In 1216 the lands were 

 granted to Hamon Le Venour, and afterwards 

 they came back to the Lovel family, perhaps 

 by a Lovel having married a daughter of 

 Hamon the hunter. This manor was always 

 called the ' Hunter's Manor,' and for some 

 centuries carried with it the mastership of the 

 Royal Buckhounds in grand serjeanty. The 

 village of Little Weldon lay in the heart of 

 the immense forest of Rockingham, about 

 midway between the royal hunting lodge at 



Geddington, and the royal castle at Rocking- 

 ham. It was, therefore very convenient for 

 the head quarters of the Royal Buckhounds, 

 which could, from the kennels, conveniently 

 hunt the whole of the forest. In 13 16 the 

 escheator reported that John Lovel held a 

 messuage and carucate of land in this manor 

 of the king in chief, by service of keeping at 

 his own cost fifteen of the king's ' canes 



1 At this period the bcists of the forest were 

 the hart, the hind, the hare, and the boar. 

 The beasts of the chase were the buck, the doe, 

 the fox, the marten, the roebuck, and the roe. 

 In addition to these animals, the otter, badger, and 

 coney were also hunted. Foxes, though hunted, 

 were considered as vermin, and any means of 

 destroying them was considered justifiable. Early 

 in the eighteenth century the whole system and 

 character of the chase began to change. The 

 diminution of forests and woodlands, the inclosure 

 of the open fields, the draining and improved cul- 

 tivation of the land, the increase of population, 

 and various other causes, helped to put an end to 

 the chase of the hart, boar, and marten. 



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