THE SUDBURY COUNTRY 



109 



Hall, kept hounds, and also Mr. Otway, of Sandford 

 Hall; but the precise dates and districts are subjects 

 which, from the conflicting accounts with which I have 

 been supplied, lead me to the conclusion that they 

 hunted the country on terms of mutual accommodation, 

 without much regard to the punctilious restraints of 

 modern times. In fact there appoars to have been at 

 least four districts, sometimes blended, at others separ- 

 ated from each other ; the Sudbury, the Gopsal, the 

 Lichfield, and the Warwickshire. 



We now approach a period when the arrangements 

 for hunting the country assumed a greater degree of 

 regularity ; and it was entered upon by Mr. Osbaldeston 

 with a very trifling subscription. It was) now for the 

 first time called the Atherstone Hunt, and the coverts 

 around Dunchurch were included. This took place in 

 1814 or 1815. A club was formed, and with funds 

 supplied by the members the kennels and stables at 

 Witherley were erected. The first two years the 

 Sudbury country was hunted by Mr. Osbaldeston, and 

 he occupied temporary accommodation at the Flitch of 

 Bacon, Wichnor Bridge. In addition to hounds which 

 he brought from Nottinghamshire, including the pack 

 he had purchased from Lord Monson, he likewise 

 bought those with which Messrs. Hall and Arkwright 

 had hunted the Sudbury country previously to his 

 occupying it. After a short time, finding the foxes 

 were sufficiently numerous, Mr. Osbaldeston resigned 

 the Sudbury country, and confined himself exclusively 

 to the Atherstone, which, in consequence of the increased 

 preservation of foxes, afforded excellent sport five days 

 in a week. 



In 1816 Mr. Meynell, who has since added the name 

 of Ingram on the acquisition of a large fortune, came 

 forward and established the Hoar Cross country, com- 

 prising the Sudbury and Derbyshire districts with that 

 around his own seat. It is bounded on the north by 

 Ashbourne, on the south by Lichfield, which takes in 

 Black Slough, Orgreave, and Catton; it extends to 



