NEIGfJBOURIXG PACKS. 



2og 



February 5th. 1894. Met at Castel Dinas Bran. A hare, after a couple 

 of riiif^s on the Castle Hill, was driven on to the Ruabon Hills (above the 

 lif,'l\vyseg Rocks), and from there in a bee line over the moors to Minora lead 

 mines (5^ miles from Castel Dinas Bran on ordnance map), then, swinf^inp 

 rif^ht-handed, took us in a straight line to Penybryn Hall, Ruabon (3^ miles 

 from Minera), where she went to ground in a rabbit warren after a run of one 

 iunir and thirty-two minutes. Allowing for hills, valleys, &c., it was a good 

 12 miles as hounds ran. The huntsman (J. B. Jagger) and the whips (F. Jagger 

 and G. P. C. Holmes) were up at the finish, and two of the ladies went well 

 in the run. 



'i'he R.R.B. have always been on a friendly footing with the Llangollen 

 Beagles, the fraternizalion of tlie two packs has been described in tlie 

 accounts of visits to Chirk. I\Ir. Tinlcy J>arton, the first ^faster of tlie 

 R.R.B., has been a supporter of tlie Llangollen from the first, and, notwith- 

 standing his weight of years, is still to be seen at most of the meets of the 

 Vale of Llangollen Harriers. 



Z\K /llialpas ilBeaales. 



" And from the bishop's huntsmen rescued him ; 

 For hunting was his daily exercise." 



A7//^ Henry VI., Part III, act iv, scene 6. 



This is a private pack kei)t by Mr. Tom Jchnson, of Tybroughton Hall, 

 near Whitchurch, and is properly known under the name of "Tom Johnson"s 

 Beagles.-' The Malpas country had been previously hunted by Mr, W. 

 T. Drake, who in iS8o gave it u[i and dis[)ersed his pack. la the year 1S83 

 Mr. Johnson, who had acted as Deputy-^Laster to Mr. Drake, determined to 

 hunt the country himself, and keep his pack at the Wheatsheaf, Malpas. 

 He kept the hounds there for three years before removing them to his 

 residence, Tybroughton Hall, and this lias given rise to the popular 

 appellation, " ALalpas Beagles."' Tom Johnson began the formation of his 

 pack by purchasing the entire draft of the Royal Rock Beagles from 

 J. \V. Macfie, and selecting some hounds from tlie Chester Beagles to breed 

 from. Among the latter was the famous old hound, Bismarck, which had 

 come originally from Colonel Jones, Ireland. This is all that can be learned 

 of the origin of this hound, although Mr. Johnson took the trouble to 

 advertise in various sporting journals for information on the subject. From 

 Bismarck, as sire, Mr. Johnson bred the still more celebrated hound 

 Monarch, the dam being Melody, from the R.R B. Nearly all the hounds 

 now in the Malpas pack trace their ilescent from l^ismarck and ^Monarch, 

 and many of the best hounds in the R.RT]. and Cheshire packs boast the 

 same lineage. 



Monaich won the Champion Cup at Peterborough .Show three times in 

 succession— 1889, 1890, 1891 — after which a special rule was framed to bar 

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