A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Brixworth field which showed but little 

 sport.' Next year, in April, Mr. Isham 

 ' dined at the Ale house at Siwell with several of 

 the fox-hunters, who in the morning had hunted 

 a bag fox.' Again, in 1756, Mr. Robert 

 Andrew hunted a bag fox, which was turned 

 out near Ravensthorpe and killed near Tow- 

 cester after a long and excellent run. 



Mr. Taylor and Mr. Smith, at the end of 

 the eighteenth century kept a well-organized 

 pack of foxhounds at Winwick ; they hunted 

 all the country round Crick, and went some- 

 times to Lutterworth for a fortnight at a 

 time. 



THE PYTCHLEY HOUNDS 



The connexion of Pytchley with hunting 

 is carried beyond the Conquest by a reference 

 in Domesday. ^ In the time of Edward the 

 Confessor, ^Ifwine (Alwin) the hunter had 

 held the manor, but even before the great 

 Survey it was in the hands of William 

 Engayne. In the centuries that followed 

 his descendants'' are found holding Pytchley 

 by service as royal huntsmen. Later, in the 

 tenth year of Elizabeth, Giles Isham ' is de- 

 clared to have died possessed of Engaine's 

 manor by tenure of grand serjeanty — find- 

 ing hounds for the destruction of wolves, 

 foxes, martens, and other ' vermin.' 



Towards the close of the seventeenth 

 century the hundred of Orlingbury paid a 

 small tribute or quit-rent, called hound silver, 

 to Lord Goring at his court at Isham, near 

 Pytchley, Lord Goring's predecessor having 

 received it by grant from the crown. This 

 hound silver was no doubt originally a levy 

 for the king's hounds. 



It is not easy to say when the Pytchley 

 Hounds, as we now know them, were first 

 established. It is believed that about the year 

 1 761 John, Earl Spencer, kept a pack of 

 hounds at Althorp Park, and that about that 

 time he used to move with the hounds for 

 half the year to the little village of Pytchley, 

 where he erected kennels, and where he 

 established a hunting club at the picturesque 

 old Elizabethan Hall. Lord Spencer divided 

 the country into two parts, hunting the 

 Althorpe portion during the autumn, and the 

 woodland portion, as far as the Northampton 

 and Market Harborough Road, during the 

 spring. Sywell Wood was, however, in- 

 cluded in the Althorpe country. As neither 



1 F. C. H. Northants, i, 294, 356. 

 ' For example — Vitalis Engayne, and his son 

 and heir, Henry. Cal. Inq.p.m. Hen. Ill, p. 42. 

 • Ch. Inq. p.m. (Ser. 2), cxlviii, No. 55. 



of these divisions of the country was large 

 enough for this manner of hunting, blank 

 days were frequent. His hounds were very 

 highly esteemed, and many of them found 

 their way into Mr. Child's pack, and so into 

 the Fitzwilliam and other kennels. 



The Pytchley Club became very celebrated; 

 most of the county gentlemen belonged to it, 

 and they frequently resided at the hall during 

 the winter months. The earl of Ossory 

 mentions the hounds several times in his 

 diary. 



Lord Spencer kept records of the sport 

 from October, 1773, to December, 1793. 

 These are contained in three quarto volumes, 

 called 'The Althorp Chase Books,' and are 

 now in the library at Althorp, where Lord 

 Spencer has allowed the writer to see them. 

 The entries generally commence with the 

 hunting of the Althorpe country in October or 

 November, and end at the beginning of 

 January in each year, when hounds went to 

 Pytchley. These diaries are most interesting, 

 and give very complete accounts of the runs, 

 the names of those taking part in the sport, 

 and the falls that occurred. 



The first entry, for Saturday, 16 October, 

 1773, is as follows : — 



Found a fox with the Old Hounds in 

 Nobottk Wood, and run sharply from thence 

 to Harpole Hills and back again to the Wood ; 

 from whence he went to Nobottk Totvn, and 

 over the grounds towards Bringlon Hills, upon 

 a cold scent ; short of Bringlon Hills the fox 

 made a turn into HoUenby Grounds, where 

 the scent mended, and the hounds ran into 

 him in a hedgerow a little beyond Holdenby. 

 An old fox. 



In the margin is written — ' Out, Lord 

 Spencer, Mr. Bouverie, Mr. Poyntz, Mr. 

 Samwell.' 



Early in December, while hunting at 

 Preston Wood, they ran a fox so hard that 

 he lay down in a ditch by Stow Wood, and 

 was surrounded by hounds, but escaped. 



He was then coursed by a greyhound and 

 the whole pack and turned several times like 

 a hare, escaping till he leap'd at the hedge 

 into the wood, but was caught by one of the 

 hounds,' and held for some time by the 

 brush. The fox and the hound different 

 sides of the hedge, and the rest of the hounds 

 endeavouring to get to him, yet he even then 

 free'd himself away. 



The huntsman at this time was Richard, 

 usually called Mr. Knight, but little or no- 

 thing is known of him. His whipper-in was 

 the renowned Dick Knight, to whom, how- 

 ever he was no relation. Dick Knight was 



' Lively, Lady Spencer's favourite hound. 



356 



