CHAPTER X 



SPORTING SHROPSHIRE 



FEW counties offer more attractions to the sports- 

 man than Shropshire. Without investing it with the 

 highest rank as a fox-hunting country, it presents the 

 charms of variety. The fisherman has ample oppor- 

 tunities for exercising the gentle art in the Severn, the 

 Teme, the Corve, the Worfe, the Rea, and some other 

 tributary streams. There are various parts which vie 

 with Norfolk for partridge-shooting, especially in the 

 neighbourhood of Shiffnal, extending thence on the 

 borders of Staffordshire to Shipley, Enville, and Bridge- 

 north, on the eastern banks of the Severn. The county 

 of Salop stands very high in estimation for the breed of 

 horses, in which we must include the adjoining parts 

 of Herefordshire, Montgomeryshire, and Radnorshire. 

 This distinction has, perhaps, of late years been some- 

 what in abeyance in consequence of the apprehension 

 that the demand for horses would fail as railroads 

 became prevalent, and therefore there have not been 

 so many bred; but that fear being now dispelled, the 

 energies of breeders are again in the ascendant. The 

 recent establishment of an annual fair, which takes 

 place early in March, exclusively for the sale of horses, 

 which continues three days, will, no doubt, tend to 

 encourage the breeding of horses. There is no other 

 place more worthy of patronage by those who wish to 

 purchase well-bred and useful animals. Most of the 

 breeding farmers are sportsmen; they ride their young 

 horses with hounds, while the diversified nature of the 

 country and the fences are particularly adapted to 

 inculcate perfection in the accomplishments of the 

 hunter. 



