462 LEAVES FROM A HUNTING DIARY 



Vickerman being a member of his father's firm he became 

 connected with colHeries and ironworks, and about fifty years 

 ago took up an interest in the Kilgetty ColHery, which is now 

 in good working order and producing the finest coal. In con- 

 junction with Lord Milford and other influential gentlemen he, 

 between fifty and sixty years ago, built the present Saundersfoot 

 Harbour, so that proper facilities might be obtained for the 

 shipping of the coal from the collieries. Previous to this it 

 used to be shipped on the beach, which was both slow and 

 expensive, not to mention the difficulties connected with so 

 primitive a method. Now, as then, the harbour is private 

 property, and one of the chief commercial advantages of the 

 village. In 1863, Mr. Vickerman purchased the well-known 

 Bonville's Court Collieries, which, together with the Kilgetty, 

 are now in full working order, and giving constant employment 

 to between 300 and 400 men. For a very long time the 

 Vickerman family have been associated with Saundersfoot, the 

 deceased gentleman's mother having resided at Netherwood 

 sixty years ago. 



" Up to the year 1865, Mr. Vickerman and his family were 

 in the habit of spending the summer months at Saundersfoot, 

 the winter being passed at Thoby Priory, Essex. In 1863, 

 Mr. Vickerman, for whom Saundersfoot and its surrounding 

 neighbourhood had an irresistible charm, purchased the Hean 

 Castle Estate. He also acquired the Moreton, Trevane, and 

 Vatson Estates, well-known properties in the neighbourhood, 

 all of which have been much improved under his administra- 

 tion. During the year 1876, Mr. Vickerman decided upon the 

 rebuilding of Hean Castle throughout, an undertaking which 

 involved the expenditure of an immense sum of money, and 

 occupied two years in its completion. It was then that 

 he and his family took up their permanent residence at 

 Saundersfoot. 



" But it was as a sportsman that he excelled. Throughout 

 the whole of his long life he took the keenest interest in every 

 kind of sports and pastimes, and during his younger days was 

 regarded as par excellence the finest and pluckiest rider with 

 the Essex Hounds. As illustrating his position as a huntsman, 

 the following extract from Bailys Magazine for May, 1876, will 

 be of interest : — 



'" Mr. Charles Ranken Vickerman, of Thoby Priory, Essex, 

 entertained the Hunt at breakfast at the beoinnino- of last 

 month, on the occasion of his retirement from the office of 

 honorary secretary and treasurer of the Hon. H. Petre's Stag- 



