HUNTING LOCALITIES 199 



harriers or beagles, but otherwise the Cheshire pack go 

 all over the county, hounds being out every day of the 

 week. For thirty years (until 1907) the country was 

 divided into North and South Cheshire, and hounds 

 were out four days a week in the northern and three 

 days in the southern division of the hunt. Now the 

 country is in one hand again — as it was prior to 1877 — 

 with the Duke of Westminster as master, and by the 

 aid of railways and motor-cars it is possible for any one 

 who is centrally located to attend all the meets. Indeed, 

 there are men living outside the county — in Lancashire, 

 for example — who hunt regularly with these hounds, 

 and there are also many — including the master — who 

 are wide of much of the country. 



Chester, for instance, is at one end of the hunt 

 (Eaton Hall, where the Duke of Westminster lives, is 

 only four miles from Chester), and at a great distance 

 from some of the country, but the Delamere Forest 

 district is very central and extremely popular, and 

 Tarporley, which is on the borders of the forest, may be 

 said to be the head-quarters of the hunt. All about the 

 forest are hunting-boxes, varying from the mansion in 

 a park to the pretty roadside cottage, the stabling of 

 which at times makes a bigger block of buildings than 

 the house itself ; and much the same state of affairs 

 exists all through such portions of the country as are 

 well placed for some of the good fixtures. The main 

 line of the London and North-Western Railway to 

 Holyhead goes right through the country between 

 Crewe and Chester ; the railways from Crewe to Liver- 

 pool and Manchester bisect other portions of the hunt ; 

 and the railways of the Cheshire Lines Committee 

 meander about the district. Indeed, Cuddington on 

 the C.L.C. is close to the kennels at Sandiway, and 



