DATES OF THE PRINCIPAL HUNTS 23 



of North Northumberland, though he seldom went as 

 far west as those districts where the Border and Coquet- 

 dale hunts are. The Border hounds have been in the 

 family of the Robsons, of Byrness, for about a hundred 

 years, but the Coquetdale is a comparatively new pack, 

 and the Glendale merely a part of what was Lord 

 Wemyss' country. The Cumberland Hunt was founded 

 in 1770. 



There is no need to go into particulars concerning the 

 antiquity of the many foot packs which hunt the Lake 

 district, and Lancashire only supports staghounds and 

 harriers, but the Cheshire Hunt dates from 1763, while 

 Sir Watkin Wynn's is a family pack which was estab- 

 lished in 1788. The North Staffordshire began in 1825, 

 and the South Staffordshire in 1805, but the Shropshire 

 goes back to 1775, the Albrighton to a period previous 

 to 1792, the Wheatland to 181 1, and the Ludlow to 

 1780, though there was a period between 1780 and 1814 

 when this country was unhunted. Major Bland, who 

 resigned in 1813, was the first master of the Worcester- 

 shire ; the Ledbury came into existence in 1810, and the 

 Herefordshire, which was divided into North and South 

 Herefordshire in 1869, in 1826, while the Monmouth- 

 shire Hunt Club was founded in 1835, though hounds 

 had been kept in the country previous to that date. The 

 Cotswold is an offshoot of the Berkeley (Lord Fitz- 

 hardinge's) and dates from 1858, and the North Cots- 

 wold country was only formed in 1868 by making a 

 division of the big tract Lord Fitzhardinge had given 

 up. The Croome is also a new hunt, as it was founded 

 by Lord Coventry in 1867, the country having pre- 

 viously been included in the Worcestershire Hunt. 



The Cattistock dates from 1806, and the Blackmore 

 Vale from 1826, but, as has been explained, the Cran- 



