116 England's oldest hunt. 



the hounds, remove from their forefeet the wires* which pre- 

 vented them from straying too far away, and have a hunt. 

 Indeed, the father of the Spinks found it necessary to keep 

 his stable door locked, for he " nivver had his gallower or 

 his lads at yam when t'hoonds were out." I remember 

 Nicholas telling me how on one occasion he managed to get 

 into the hay loft, then climbed down the rack into the 

 " gallower's " stable, smashed the lock, and was away to 

 an early morning fixture ere his father was out of bed. From 

 childhood then he was a hunter, if not a huntsman. He 

 took part in some of those wonderful runs of which the 

 ballad, and legend of the dale still tell. Thus, when at 

 last he came to preside over the pack he loved so well, he 

 was conversant not only with every inch of the country, but 

 every hound and its idiosyncrasies. The author of " The 

 North Countree " says : — 



" Notwithstanding the difficulties with which he had to contend 

 in the shape of limited means, and what was worse, an exceedingly 

 limited supply of foxes, he and his lieutenants, his brother Richard 

 and Bobbie Dawson, gave every satisfaction in a somewhat critical 

 country, and showed excellent sport." 



I have by me one or two stories regarding Nicholas. 

 Like many other huntsmen and masters of hounds, Jorrocks 

 included, he hated a crowd close behind his hounds. On 

 one occasion, the fixture was at Broughton. A bagged fox 

 was to be turned down, and from all parts of Cleveland came 

 sportsmen. Nicholas was in a fine stew. " Ah knaw they'll 

 ower ride 'em ; they weean't giv 'em a chance ; Ah knaw 

 tha weean't ; they'll gallop 'em off t' line, Ah knaw tha will," 

 he said almost plaintively. However, he hit on a brilliant 

 idea. He had his fox turned down in a part of the country 

 where a line of hand gates was the only means of exit. Away 

 went the fox, then hounds, and then Nicholas, who got to 

 the first gate, and here he remained fumbling with the latch 

 as though he could not open it. The horsemen were all 



*The practice of wiring hounds was also adopted by the Cleveland 

 Hounds till a prosecution against the Bilsdale by the R.S.P.C.A. 

 stopped it. 



