A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



then went back to Snapes and got a fox away, 

 and they began to run hard through Drayton 

 Park and on close to Ish'p, where they came 

 to slow hunting, but ultimately killed the fox 

 between Islip and Lowick at 6.40 p.m., hav- 

 ing been hunting continuously since 2.15 p.m. 

 Lord Spencer records that it was a desperately 

 hard day ; he rode three horses almost to a 

 standstill, and did not get home till nearly 

 midnight. 



On Lord Spencer's resignation, in 1880, 

 Captain E. Pennell Elmhirst acted for one 

 season as deputy master and huntsman. 



In the following year Lord Lonsdale became 

 master, and also carried the horn and showed 

 great sport. He kept a magnificent stud of 

 chestnut horses, having, it is said, at one time, 

 no less than seventy of that colour at Brig- 

 stock. In 1883 Lord Lonsdale purchased the 

 Blankney pack, with which he hunted the 

 woods until 1885, when he resigned. 



Mr. Austin Mackenzie then took the coun- 

 try, bringing with him his beautiful pack of 

 hounds from the Old Berkeley (West) coun- 

 try. For fourteen years, 1 885-1 899, he 

 carried the horn and showed excellent sport, 

 hunting the country practically at his own 

 expense. 



When Mr. Mackenzie retired from the 

 mastership on 22 March, 1899, the sup- 

 porters of the hunt presented him with an oil 

 painting of himself on his grey horse, Diamond, 

 George Whitmore, the kennel huntsman, and 

 Tom Ashley, the first whip, surrounded by 

 the bitch pack. 



Mr. Mackenzie's dog hounds were pur- 

 chased by the present duke of Beaufort for 

 2,000 guineas, and the bitch hounds by Mr. 

 W. M. Wroughton for 3,000 guineas. 



Lord Southampton was then chosen as 

 master, and hunted the hounds until the spring 

 of 1 90 1. 



On 8 March, 1900, hounds met at Glendon 

 Hall. They found at once in the Spinneys, 

 ran over the bottom to Rothwell Lodge, 

 and almost to Thorpe Malsor. Leaving 

 that village on the left they ran on to Lod- 

 dington, and turned to the right towards 

 Orton. They ran almost without a check to 

 Faxton Corner, and on through Bullock Pen 

 to Blue Covert. A fox was holloa'd away, 

 but Lord Southampton would not lift his 

 hounds, and they hunted through the covert 

 and then ran hard through Kelmarsh Covert 

 and Langborough, over the Market Har- 

 borough road, and on towards Clipston. They 

 checked near Clipston Lodge, but hit off the 

 line and ran on over the little brook, and 

 leaving Tally-ho Covert to the left ran hard 

 past Hazelbeach Hall and hill, to Blueberry 



Covert. They skirted the covert and ran into 

 their fox close to Maidwell Dales. The 

 point was 10 miles, and as hounds ran 17 



time was 2 hours and 10 



was 

 miles. The 

 minutes. 



On Lord Southampton's retirement in 1 901 

 Mr. Walter de P. Cazenove was appointed 

 master. He appointed E. Judd, from the old 

 Berkshire Hounds, as his huntsman, and held 

 the mastership until 1 903, when Mr. W. M. 

 Wroughton, master of the Pytchley from 

 1894 to 1902, took office, with T. Dawson 

 to carry the horn. Dawson was succeeded in 

 1905 by Thomas Carr. 



THE PYTCHLEY COUNTRY 



The Pytchley ranks as one of the finest 

 countries in England, comprising, as it does, the 

 great forest of Rockingham and Gcddington 

 Chase, where hounds can hunt both early and 

 late ; the deep pastures, separated by large ox 

 fences, near Market Harborough ; the large 

 grass fields and double hedge-rows of Fawsley; 

 and the smaller arable fields near Northamp- 

 ton. The fences, as a rule, are strong and 

 clean cut. It is not uncommon to meet with 

 a well-laid blackthorn fence, a ditch being on 

 one side and a post and rail on the other, and 

 this must be either jumped or let alone. 

 ' Bullfinches ' also frequently occur. There 

 is not, however, much water to be negoti- 

 ated. During the past few years a good deal 

 of land, which was formerly arable, has been 

 laid down as permanent pasture. 



The Pytchley Hunt is bounded on the east 

 by the Fitzwilliam, on the south-east by the 

 Oakley, on the south by the Grafton, on the 

 west by the Bicester, Warwickshire, and 

 North Warwickshire, and on the north-west 

 by the territories of the Atherstone, Mr. 

 Fernie's, and the Cottesmore Hounds. 



With the exception of Rockingham Forest, 

 Geddington Chase, Harlestone Heath, Badby 

 Wood, and Sywell Wood, the coverts are of 

 moderate size ; many of them are quite small. 

 The oldest artificial gorse in the country is 

 the covert in Yelvertoft Field, which was 

 planted by Lord Spencer and is called after 

 him. Crick Covert, one of the most cele- 

 brated in the country, owes its origin to the 

 fact that a fox was found in a hedge-row near 

 Crick, and killed in Oxfordshire after a severe 

 run ; the covert was planted at the same spot 

 about 1 81 7. Waterloo Covert was planted 

 about the same time ; it was named after the 

 great battle-field, and it provided the famous 

 Waterloo fox in Captain Anstruther Thom- 

 son's time. Blue Covert was planted by the 



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