90 SOUTH COUNTRY TROUT STREAMS 



The Kcnnct, indeed a famous trout stream, 

 takes its rise, not in Berkshire, but North Wilts. I 



The shall deal with it, however, in the present 

 Kennet chapter. The stream rises near East 

 Kennet, and at Marlborough, five miles down, is a 

 splendid trouting water. Here is the Savernake 

 fishing, preserved by the Marquis of Ailesbury. 

 The trout are plentiful, and the average weight of 

 those killed is, according to the fishing book, no less 

 than two pounds. The grannom comes on in 

 April, together with the duns common to chalk 

 streams, but there is no May-fly to speak of on the 

 upper reaches of the Kennet above Stitchcombe. 

 There is not often such a failure in the water 

 supply as to militate seriously against fishing, and 

 the stream, which is clear and pure, is well adapted 

 to the dry fly. The Savernake water is not re- 

 stocked, as there is no scarcity of trout, and the 

 coarse fish are limited to a very few dace. Alto- 

 gether this is a fine piece of trouting water, flowing 

 through a charming country. Below comes the 

 water of Sir Francis Burdett, at Ramsbury. 

 Here the fish, though numerous, both in the main 

 stream and in its various branches and side streams, 

 do not run so big. Re-stocking has been regularly 

 carried on at Ramsbury, and the head of trout 

 carefully kept up. Sir Francis Burdett has about 

 five miles of the main stream. At Chilton Foliatt 

 and by the noble old Tudor house, Littlecot, once 

 the home of " Wild Will Darell," of sinister fame, 

 the Kennet is seen at its loveliest, and from there 

 downwards the trout run large. At Hungcrford, 

 just below Chilton, there was for many years an 

 angling club of note, and the May-fly season was 

 sometimes productive of great sport. The club 



