THE BILSDALE HUNT. 51 



(or Rowsby) Dogs," shows they were hunted on foot without 

 even a nominal huntsman, each man cheering on his own 

 hound. To a lesser degree this even obtains now in the 

 Farndale country, where to walk a hound invests one with 

 the privilege of assisting(?) in the hunting of the pack. 

 This unconventional cosmopolitanism was in force in 

 Bilsdale a little over a quarter of a century ago, as will 

 be shown in due course. 



The Medd family have from the very commencement 

 of the last century been intimately connected with the 

 Bilsdale Hunt in all its ups and downs — and it has not been 

 without them — nor is the name wanting now amongst the 

 committeemen and followers of the hunt. It was an early 

 bearer of this name who kept the Fox and Hounds Inn at 

 Orra — an appropriate sign, forsooth — and from what one 

 can gather he kept a sort of open house for hunting men. 

 Peculiarly enough, after the lapse of nearly a century, another 

 bearer of the name and follower of the Bilsdale is now mine 

 host of the Fox and Hounds Inn at Carlton-in-Cleveland. 

 An inn by the way which is owned by the Vicar of the 

 parish, the hunting and farming parson (Rev. J. L. Kyle), 

 to whom this book is dedicated. The Inn at Orra 

 was undoubtedly an ancient erection, and played a 

 prominent part in the history, social and sporting, of the dale, 

 Hunt meetings, both formal and informal, were held here 

 regularly, whilst never a wedding party thought of wending 

 their way homeward without calling and leaving so 

 much money with which those who had attended the function 

 were expected to drink success to the newly-wedded couple. 

 The old inn was hard by the church, and on a certain Sunday 

 in the year, I cannot learn which, nor yet the origin of the 

 custom, a stall containing boots and shoes was found in 

 front of it, and as the good dalesfolk left church they 

 either bought shoes or received those for which they had 

 been measured earlier in the year. This was about eighty 

 years ago. The Fox and Hounds was a regular rendezvous 

 after the day's sport, and here many a hunting song was 

 sung, and one or two I believe composed. When the Bilsdale 



