A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



That it was resuscitated was due to the enter- 

 prise of the late Mr. Cradock, of Hartforth near 

 Richmond, who came forward in the year follow- 

 ing the Duke of Cleveland's death, and undertook 

 to hunt a large part of his former country in 

 Yorkshire and Durham,^^ five days a fortnight, 

 with a subscription of about ;^2,ooo a year. It 

 is no easy matter to revive hunting in a country 

 where it has been allowed to lapse. There were 

 neither hounds nor kennels, and but few fox- 

 preservers ; but Mr. Cradock threw himself into 

 the work with such energy that in his third sea- 

 son he hunted seventy times without a single 

 blank day, and in six years ^^ his hounds were 

 known as ' the best little pack in Yorkshire.' ^' 

 At what expense this result had been achieved 

 is best exemplified by the fact that of thirty 

 couple of draft hounds drawn from the best 

 kennels in England no less than twenty-five 

 couple had to be destroyed in one day for sheep- 

 worrying, the pack having broken away when at 

 exercise on Gayles Moor, and enjoyed some ex- 

 cellent sport on its own account with the black- 

 faced sheep of the neighbourhood.^* 



Mr. Cradock's first huntsman was Dick 

 Christian, who died in 1 8 70. He was followed by 

 Bridger Champion, who was retained by Lord 

 Zetland when he succeeded Mr. Cradock as 

 master in 1876 ; Champion retired in 1 906 

 owing to failing health, after thirty-six years' con- 

 tinuous service — a most remarkable record. Not 

 only did he hunt the hounds four days a week, 

 but in addition from 1878 onwards used to 

 drive the hound-van drawn by four horses, 

 which was utilized for reaching the distant 

 side of the Durham country. The best run in 

 the Durham country that took place during Mr. 

 Cradock's mastership was on 25 March, 1873, 

 when a fox found at Houghton Whin, ran past 

 Bolam and Keverstone to Cockfield, thence 

 through Raby Park to Streatlam, where it 

 was killed at Fryers Coat Farm. Time — three 

 hours, and only two horsemen saw the finish, 

 the late Colonel Wilson of Cliffe, and the hunts- 

 man. 



Mr. Cradock, to the regret of all concerned, 

 gave up his hounds in 1876, but for the next 

 twenty years he was a regular follower of the 

 pack he had helped to form, and took the keenest 

 interest in its welfare. In 1874, in conjunction 

 with the late Mr. W. T. Scarth of Staindrop, 

 he revived the Old Raby Hunt Club, with the 



" Including Sim Pastures and the district round 

 Middridge, which was given to the South Durham 

 when Sir William Eden became master of that pack 

 in 1877. 



" Twelve years is the period usually considered 

 necessary to ' make ' a pack. 



" Bell's Life in London, Jan. 1873. 



-* I am indebted to his son, Major Cradock, D.S.O., 

 the present owner of Hartforth, for this and much 

 other interesting and valuable information. 



object of investing a capital sum for the future 

 welfare of hunting in the Raby country.-^ This 

 result has been happily achieved, thanks to the 

 energy and foresight of Sir J. E. Backhouse, 

 hart., the honorary secretary and treasurer of 

 the club. The Raby Hunt Club now consists of 

 sixty-four members, who pay an entrance fee of 

 five guineas, and an annual subscription of like 

 amount ; and a substantial sum has been laid 

 by to meet the necessity, should it ever arise, 

 of purchasing a new pack of hounds for the 

 country. 



On Mr. Cradock's retirement, his country 

 was taken over by Lord Zetland, by whose name 

 it has been known ever since. The term 

 ' popular ' in connexion with a master of 

 hounds has of late years become almost an 

 accepted truism, but it is impossible to conceive 

 one to whom it can be more honestly applied 

 than to Lord Zetland, who for thirty years has 

 hunted four days a week without subscription, 

 — a trifling poultry and covert fund excepted — 

 and spared neither trouble nor expense to pro- 

 vide sport for his followers. The fact that 

 his outside meets in the Durham country at 

 Knitsley Fell or Black Banks are 25 miles from 

 the kennels at Aske, and that hounds have to be 

 vanned to Staindrop to reach these and many 

 other distant meets, is perhaps the strongest 

 proof of his devotion to fox-hunting. Taken as 

 a whole, Lord Zetland's country is probably the 

 best in the county of Durham — though some 

 may give the palm to the Hurworth. Except 

 on its extreme northern fringe, where it is 

 bounded by the North and South Durham terri- 

 tories, it is free from the taint of coal-pits or manu- 

 factories, while its plough rides light and carries a 

 good scent, though grass is its predominating 

 note. The Tees, which practically bisects it, 

 though an exceedingly beautiful river in itself, is 

 perhaps its worst attribute as regards hunting, as 

 foxes, especially in the Barnard Castle district, are 

 apt to take refuge in its steep and woody banks. 

 The Zetland country contains every variety of 

 fence, and though its envious neighbours occasion- 

 ally apply an unflattering nickname to it, it takes 

 a good man on a good horse to live with hounds 

 when they run hard across it. This may be 

 instanced by the famous run of I January, 1900, 

 from Houghton Whin to Westwick — ten miles 

 in seventy minutes — when of a very large field 

 only five horsemen. Major Cradock and his 

 brother, the late Mr. T. Sowerby, Champion, 

 and one other, saw the finish. 



" The Old Raby Hunt Club had been originally 

 founded by Lord Darlington, but had ceased to exist 

 on the death of the second Duke of Cleveland. In 

 Lord Darlington's day the club dined every Thurs- 

 day night at the 'Swan' at Bedale, when hunting his 

 Yorkshire country. His pink dress-coat with white 

 silk facings, and a black velvet collar with embroidered 

 foxes, was adopted by the members of the new club. 



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