42 England's oldest hunt. 



the Farndale. No doubt they begged hounds from their landlords 

 and neighbouring packs. The stamp of the old Roxby hounds was 

 much the same as the Bilsdale — strong in bone, long on the leg, light 

 gutted, long-headed, sharp-nosed, and with coarse sterns ; in colour 

 they were light, a valuable quality in hounds on these moors, where a 

 dark pack would soon be lost to view among the heather. 



Interesting as is all this, and bearing as it does upon the 

 history of " England's Oldest Hunt," still one does not gain 

 very much erudition regarding the history of the Farndale, 

 neither does an amusing letter from a committee-man of 

 that hunt throw a great deal of light on the matter. The 

 letter runs : — 



Dear Hunting Friend, — I must go to Farndale to see two men to 

 make a correct statement. I am gleaning the gentleman's name that 

 started Farndale Hounds. He lived at Kirbymoorside. He divided 

 his hounds into three places — Sinnington, Bilsdale, and Farndale. He 

 was the best sportsman ever known. He killed his horse the high side 

 of Bilsdale while hunting. The place where the gentleman buried it 

 with saddle and bridle is conspicuous to this day. I will try and find 

 his name and address, if possible, and then I shall be able to get through 

 with duties. 



I do not, at any rate, feel at all certain in my own mind 

 that the Farndale Hunt dates back so far as either the 

 Bilsdale or Sinnington — it is undoubtedly a child born of 

 the two packs — though peradventure it may have other 

 crosses in it. At any rate, the Farndale Hunt has never 

 had the status of either of the twain, and I believe that no 

 pack in England is conducted with so small an expenditure 

 as this — " poor folk mun 'a'e poor ways " they say in the 

 dales. Since this work went to press, Mr. J. H. Munro 

 MacKenzie, a famous breeder of Highland Ponies, and an 

 ex-Master of the now extinct Whitehaven Harriers, whom I 

 met on the Isle of Mull, N.B., remarked with some disgust, 

 " As much is spent on boot polish with many hunts as 

 on the old world packs which showed such excellent sport." 

 It is, of course, possible that they may have had a few 

 hounds in Farndale and Bransdale at the Duke's death 

 and " scratted on wi' 'em," as they quaintly put it, but as I 

 have said I find not one bit of record regarding this hunt, 

 and when gathering information with reference to it, there 



