SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



that was fated to recoil on their own heads, and is still sung in Weardale. One verse will, 



The news of the capture quickly spread in the 

 neighbourliood, and ere long six of the stoutest- 

 hearted of the local ' free-shooters,' armed with 

 loaded guns, started in pursuit of the keepers, 

 swearing they would release the prisoners or die 

 in the attempt. As they hurried down the vale 

 accompanied by a mob of sympathizers, which 

 vires acquhivit eundo, they fell in with a travel- 

 ling tinker at Park House, whom they pressed 

 into their service and took with them as far as 

 Stanhope. 



On arriving here they found the bishop's 

 officers had halted at the Black Bull — now the 

 Phoenix — Inn for breakfast, and rushing into the 

 house, a most bloody affray ensued, which ended 

 in a complete victory for the poachers. Such of 

 the constables as showed fight suffered unmerci- 

 fully, two of them so badly that their lives were 

 subsequently despaired of, one had his eye 

 knocked out, another his arm broken, and all 

 were more or less severely wounded. The floor 

 of the ale-house swam in blood, which one of 

 the poachers bade the landlady mix with meal 

 to make the black pudding of which the keepers 

 had boasted at St. John's Chapel. Such of the 

 bishop's unfortunate men as were capable of 

 flight sought refuge in neighbouring houses, and 

 only two of their number escaped injury, having 

 concealed themselves, the one under a joiner's 

 bench, and the other in the copper of the 

 inn brewhouse,^^ as soon as the fight began. 

 The released poachers were then marched in 

 triumph to Stanhope market-place, where the 

 impressed tinker was made to remove their hand- 

 cuffs. 



The extraordinary part of the whole affair, as 

 seen through modern spectacles, is that, despite 

 the stir the affray naturally caused in the county, 

 no punishment appears to have overtaken the 

 offenders. A special meeting of the County 

 Magistrates was indeed summoned to consider 

 the matter at Quarter Sessions, with the result 

 that the rectors of Stanhope and Wolsingham 

 were elevated to the bench ; but beyond this 

 their worships appear to have taken no steps to 

 vindicate the law.'* ' Parturiunt montes, nascitur 

 ridiculus mus ! ' However, as was usual in those 

 days, the ' Battle ' afforded rich material for the 

 local poet,'* who produced a ballad, ' The Bonny 

 Moor Hen,' of nineteen verses, dealing with it, 

 which achieved enormous popularity at the time, 



" A man of mettle jumped into a kettle, 

 At the battle of Stanhope in Weardale. 



— Old Darlington Ballad. 



" We have searched the files of The Durham County 

 Advert'uer of this year (1818) in vain for any mention 

 of this meeting. 



'^ This gentleman is believed to have been one 

 Thomas Coulson, the schoolmaster of Eastgate, de- 

 scribed as a ' fair local poet and a contributor to the 

 Ladies^ Diary.' 



however, probably satisfy the reader : 



Ye brave lads of Weardale, I pray lend an ear, 

 The account of a battle ye quickly shall hear, 

 That was fought by the miners so well you 



may ken, 

 By claiming a right to the bonny moor hen.'" 



Poaching continued to be rife in West Dur- 

 ham until the formation of the new police force, 

 and sixty years ago was practised to a degree, 

 and in a manner scarcely conceivable at the 

 present day. Gangs of men with blackened 

 faces ravaged the country in open defiance of the 

 law, and matters finally culminated in 1848 in 

 the murder at Trundlemire Wood,'' on the Raby 

 estate, by a gang of armed poachers, of John 

 Shirley, the first whipper-in to the Duke of 

 Cleveland's hounds. Three of his assailants 

 were arrested, two of whom, named Dowson 

 and Thompson, were subsequently sentenced to 

 death. The former was, however, respited and 

 transported for life, but Thompson was hanged 

 in public at Durham, 26 March, 1848.'^ 



This vindication of the law was not without 

 its proper salutary effect, and though poaching 

 was of course not stamped out, it was practised 

 in a less notorious fashion. It, however, broke 

 out again in much the same form some years 

 later in Teesdale, and about 1863 an affray took 

 place on Middle End Fell, where two masked 

 men were surprised poaching by three keepers 

 under the command of the Duke of Cleveland's 

 agent, the late Mr. Scarth of Staindrop. When 

 the poachers found flight was useless, they stood 

 back to back, and on the approach of the party, 

 shot two of the keepers — one of them" so severely 

 that his life was despaired of — and then escaped 

 under cover of a dense fog. A man from Mid- 

 dleton in Teesdale, who was believed to be the 

 culprit, was arrested the same evening, and tried 

 at the following assizes at Durham, but the 

 evidence against him was not held conclusive, 

 and he was acquitted. Here again, however, 

 good resulted from evil, and at the present day 

 Upper Teesdale is probably as free from poaching 

 as any part of Durham. 



'* We are indebted for the above information to a 

 pamphlet entitled The Bonny Moor Hen, written and 

 published by Mr. W. M. Egglestone of Stanhope. 



" We believe another of the Raby keepers was shot 

 in the same wood, but in this case his presumed 

 assailant was acquitted at the assizes. 



" Extraordinary precautions were taken to preserve 

 the peace on this occasion, a troop of cavalry and a 

 large body of police being drafted into the town. 

 It is estimated that 10,000 people witnessed the 

 execution, many of whom had tramped all night to 

 Durham from every part of the county. 



" This man, Bcadel by name, was subsequently 

 promoted to be head keeper on the Teesdale estate, 

 but never really recovered from the effects of his 

 wound. 



413 



