SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Mr. Cartwright, of Aynho, in his diary 

 mentions several days' coursing by Sir Thomas 

 Aubrey, thus: — 'On the i6 November, 

 1829, Sir Aubrey coursed in Walton Grounds. 

 Killed two hares.' Again, on the 29 Janu- 

 ary, 1836 : — ' Sir Thomas coursed on Walton 

 Grounds and killed one hare ; only two hares 

 seen. Sir T. very "captious" in conse- 

 quence.' 



Though there are no organized meetings 

 in the county, and but little private coursing 



at the present day, there are two large kennels 

 of greyhounds in Northamptonshire : one at 

 the White House, Weedon, which Mr. E. 

 M. Crosse, the well-known South-country 

 courser, has recently purchased, and which 

 contains accommodation for upwards of 

 100 greyhounds; the other at Irthling- 

 borough, where Mr. A. Dunmore keeps a 

 number of greyhounds. Both these training 

 establishments have produced famous hounds 

 which have won stakes at various meetings. 



FALCONRY 



This sport has been practised from very 

 early times in Northamptonshire, though the 

 actual records of hawking are very few and 

 far between. In the sheriff's accounts of 

 expenditure at Rockingham Castle, and at the 

 Hunting Lodge at Geddington, frequent 

 mention is made of repairs to the ' mews ' for 

 the royal hawks. 



Mr. Isham, in his diary for 1672, records 

 that on 17 October he 'went with Lewis to 

 Sir William Hazelwood's hawking.' 



Nearly two hundred years later the Rev. 

 Gage Earle Freeman, M.A., St. John's 

 College, Cambridge, went to live at Ged- 



dington, as curate, the Rev. W. M. H, 

 Church being vicar. This gentleman, who 

 wrote for The Field, over the pen-name 

 ' Peregrine,' used to fly merlins and sparrow- 

 hawks in Boughton Park, the Chase, and 

 Weekley Hall Wood. The entries in Mr. 

 Freeman's sporting journal commence in the 

 year 1852, some five years after he went to 

 Geddington, and he describes many flights in 

 one of his books — Practical Falconry, pub- 

 lished in 1869. At this time Mr. Freeman 

 was the only falconer in this county. Some 

 years later Colonel Cooper, who lived at 

 Pitsford Hall, used to keep hawks. 



SHOOTING 



The pre-eminence of Northamptonshire in 

 fox-hunting does much to overshadow its re- 

 pute as a shooting county; but Whyte Melville 

 bore witness in one of his stirring ballads to 

 the happy relations which exist between the 

 two interests : — 



We have acres of woodlands and oceans of grass, 

 We have game in the autumn and cubs in the spring. 



Yet, strictly speaking, Northamptonshire is 

 not a first-rate shooting county. Its short- 

 comings from the game-preserver's point of 

 view are the heavy clay soil, the excess of 

 pasture-land, and the lack, in places, of ade- 

 quate water supplies. The increasing area of 

 pasture threatens to become a serious draw- 



Possessing very extensive woodlands inter- 

 spersed with arable lands, Northamptonshire 

 affords greater advantages for pheasants. Large 

 numbers are reared annually on many estates, 

 but the stock depends almost entirely upon the 

 amount of money laid out on their rearing 

 and preservation ; given a favourable season, 

 the bags will bear comparison with those made 

 in any similar district, save in Norfolk and 

 Suffolk. The type of bird most frequently 

 seen is the result of cross-breeding between 

 the typical P. colchicus and the Chinese ring- 

 necked [P. torquatus) ; crosses between the 

 former and the Japanese pheasant (P. versicolor) 

 are also occasionally met. 



By the kindness of Mr. J. Gardiner Muir 

 the writer is enabled to give some extracts from 



back, for year by year more land is laid to an old shooting journal kept by Lord Ossory 



" *"" "' ---^--- 1 - t. during the later decades of the eighteenth 



century, when he lived at Farming Woods. 

 This house, which was originally Lord Ossory 's 

 shooting-box, is completely surrounded by 

 noble oak woods extending for miles in every 

 direction. It is undoubtedly one of the most 

 beautiful seats in the county, and this, without 

 partiality, is high praise. 



grass. There are, however, certain localities, 

 notably the Burghley district, where the lighter 

 character of the soil favours the game pre- 

 server ; indeed, a competent authority has 

 stated that in some seasons partridges occur 

 in the Burghley district in numbers that would 

 compare favourably with the best lands of 

 Norfolk, 



377 



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