A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



Towards the middle of the eighteenth century 

 Auckland races had attained considerable impor- 

 tance. They took place in the month of April, 

 and extended over four days, the proceedings 

 being enlivened with cock-fighting and other 

 amusements. One ;^5o plate was run for each 

 day, but this being of course on the ' heat ' system 

 provided a sufficiently lengthy programme for 

 our easily contented forefathers. In 1753 the 

 races had so far prospered that a second meeting 

 was held for three days in October, but without 

 cock-fighting. On the first day the only event 

 — and with reason — was a match between 

 Messrs. Hilton and Hopper, three four-mile heats, 

 carrying 13 stone each.* Of course these were 

 ' cocktails,' but it would be instructive to know 

 how many horses there are in training at New- 

 market at the present day that could ' get ' twelve 

 miles in an afternoon with 13 stone on their 

 backs. How long these races lasted cannot un- 

 fortunately be traced, nor curiously enough does 

 any record exist of where they were held, opinion 

 being divided as to whether the race-course was 

 on Etherley or Byers Green Moor. The cock- 

 fighting appears to have far outweighed the racing 

 as regards the money at stake. Thus on 9 April, 

 1 75 1, and following days : — 



Captain Mark Milbank fought Doctor Dunn, 

 showing thirty-one cocks on each side for 10 guineas 

 a Battle, and 200 guineas the Main. In which 

 Main 16 battles, 9 won by Captain Milbank, and 7 

 by Doctor Dunn.' 



Heber gives a list of thoroughbred stallions 

 standing for hire in Great Britain, but it is curious 

 that from 1 75 1-3 Durham should be almost the 

 only county in England without one, while 

 among the eleven Durham subscribers to his 

 book, there does not appear the name of any 

 of the old county families, though the Duke of 

 Cleveland, the Shaftos, Vanes, and Lambtons all 

 had horses running in various parts of England, 

 as well as Durham, at this time. 



The Auckland races appear to have gradually 

 fallen into decay, though * leather-flapping' and 

 galloway races continued to be held either on the 

 Flatts or on the site of the present railway station 

 until at least 1 816. In 1862 an attempt was 

 made to institute a race meeting under Jockey 

 Club rules, which took place in April of that 

 year, and it is curious nowadays to read in Ruff''s 

 Guide of four-year-olds running four furlongs for a 

 stake of ^^23 ! Only two of the stakes exceeded 

 j^35 in value, and the programme included a 

 hurdle-race, but the meeting did not take place 

 again. 



A last effort was made to revive racing in the 

 Auckland neighbourhood a few years later in the 



* A Historical List of Horse Matches run, and of Plates 

 and Prizes run for, in Great Britain and Ireland in 1753 ; 

 edited by Reginald Heber. 



* Ibid. 



early seventies, at a time when the county of 

 Durham was enjoying a period of prosperity such 

 as it has never known before, nor since.^ A 

 race-course was laid out near Spennymoor, on 

 the estate of the late Mr. Duncombe-Shafto, of 

 Whitworth, member for South Durham, and a 

 well-known figure on the Turf of those days, and 

 meetings were held under Jockey Club rules. 

 But the business was badly managed, and the 

 ' Whitworth Race-course Company ' came to an 

 untimely end with the advent of the inevitable 

 period of depression that followed the good 

 times. 



According to Surtees the first races at Durham 

 were run in May, 1733, on the Smyddyhaughs, 

 ' where they have since continued with little 

 interruption.' These races were of the same 

 character as those at Bishop Auckland to which 

 reference had already been made. They were 

 supported by the same owners and eked out with 

 cock-fighting and other amusements, and judged 

 by modern standards were no better than pony 

 or galloway races. Thus in July, 1 75 I, when 

 the meeting extended over three days, there 

 was a ';^50 Plate for horses 14 h. h. to carry 

 nine stones, give and take, all above or under 

 to be allowed weight for inches, 4 mile heats.' 

 This was won by Mr. Pearson's ch. h.. Little 

 Partner, 14 h. fin., carrying 9 st. 5 lb. 4 oz.' 

 This precision as to fractions of a pound avoir- 

 dupois leads one to presume that the jockeys of 

 those days must have been even more carefully 

 trained than the animals they bestrode. Little 

 Partner won the first and last heats, but was 

 fourth in the second — the betting on these heats 

 must have been instructive.* 



At the same meeting 



Sir Edward Blackett fought the Duke of Cleveland, 

 showing 41 cocks on one side, 10 guineas a Battle, and 

 20D guineas the Main, which consisted of 30 Battles, 

 16 won by his Grace, and 14 by Sir Edward Blackett.' 



' This was due to the Franco-German War. 



' Heber, Hist. List, &c. 



* Little Partner won this race three years in 

 succession. 



' Heber, Hist. List, &c. Cock-fighting has been 

 very properly condemned alike by law and public 

 opinion for a great number of years, but the writer 

 has reason to believe it would not be a matter of great 

 difficulty even yet to fight a main in the county of 

 Durham. Less than twenty years ago a gallant Irish- 

 man was summoned by his military duties to reside 

 there. Among the equipment that had accompanied 

 him from the Emerald Isle was a magnificent game- 

 cock of a strain long cherished in his family, which, 

 to quote its owner, had ' cleaned out Connemara.' 

 Stirred by the Captain's laments over the lack of Saxon 

 enterprise that denied further gratification to his pet, 

 one of his neighbours was moved to set the law at de- 

 fiance, and sought counsel of a friendly gamekeeper, who 

 at once volunteered to produce a bird from the colliery 

 district to the north, capable of cutting the Hibernian 

 comb. Accordingly a match was made, and the 



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