SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



whip to Gillard with the Belvoir. William 

 Wells is now huntsman to the Hertfordshire 

 Hounds. In the last year of Mr. Gosling's 

 mastership of the entire county there were 

 three remarkable runs across the Essex country 

 from Chickney Springs near Elsenham. 



In 1885 an unfortunate dispute arose, and 

 the country was divided, Mr. Swindell taking 

 a portion of it and hunting it from new ken- 

 nels at Hay Street near Braughing, whilst the 

 eastern side was hunted by a committee under 

 the name of the ' Herts and Essex." 



In 1894 the country was happily reunited 

 (in every sense of the word) under the master- 

 ship of the Hon. L. J. Bathurst, who carried 

 the horn himself and showed good sport. 



On Mr. Bathurst's resignation in 1896, 

 Mr. Edward Barclay, long known as a suc- 

 cessful master of harriers, was elected master 

 of the Puckeridge. Mr. Barclay resides on his 

 own property at Brent Pelham, in the centre 

 of the country, where he has built kennels. 

 Mr. Barclay hunts the dog-pack himself two 

 days a week, whilst James Cockayne carries 

 the horn with ' the ladies.' 



THE OLD BERKELEY HOUNDS 



The origin of the Old Berkeley Hounds is 

 somewhat obscure. The country extended 

 originally for about 120 miles, from Cranford 

 in Middlesex to Berkeley Castle in Glouces- 

 tershire ' from Kensington Gardens on the 

 east to the suburbs of Bristol on the west.' 



This country was hunted by successive 

 earls of Berkeley until 1800, the kennels 

 being at Cranford in Middlesex, Gerrard's 

 Cross in Bucks, Nettlebed in Oxfordshire, 

 and at Berkeley Castle. Mr. Grantly Berke- 

 ley, in his Reminiscences, published in 1854, 

 says : ' Smith, in his MS. history of our 

 family, speaks of a Lord Berkeley who used 

 to keep his hounds at the village of Charing, 

 with thirty huntsmen in tawny coats to 

 attend upon them. My father maintained 

 the orange or yellow or tawny plush for his 

 Hunt. Mr. Combe (about 1820), in remem- 

 brance of the name, called his hounds the Old 

 Berkeley, and retained our livery ... to 

 show the increase of packs of hounds in the 

 last 80 or 100 years, my father (the fifth 

 Earl of Berkeley) used to hunt all the country 

 from Kensington Gardens to Berkeley Castle 

 and Bristol. 1 Scratch Wood (near Elstree, now 

 a joint covert of the Hertfordshire and the Old 

 Berkeley) was the nearest covert to London ; 



1 This country is now hunted by the Old 

 Berkeley (East and West), the Berkshire, the 

 Oxfordshire, and the Berkeley packs. 



but I have heard old Tom Oldaker say that 

 while with my father he found a fox in 

 Scratch Wood, and lost him in rough ground 

 in Kensington Gardens. There was a ken- 

 nel at Cranford, I believe, a kennel at Ger- 

 rard's Cross, and I know there was one at 

 Nettlebed (in Oxfordshire) in my father's 

 time. Where else the hounds used to be put 

 up in that wide stretch of country I know 

 not, but I suppose occasionally at inns.' 



It was apparently found convenient to hunt 

 one part of the country for about three weeks 

 or a month at a time, and then to remove the 

 hounds to other kennels and to hunt another 

 part of the country for about the same period, 

 for we read in the Sporting Magazine that 

 'On Saturday, November n, 1797, the Old 

 Berkeley Hounds removed from Marlow, after 

 hunting in Berkshire, to their kennels at Ger- 

 rard's Cross, from which they alternately hunt 

 their Herts and Bucks districts till some time 

 after Christmas, when they return to Berk- 

 shire.' 



A good run is recorded in the Sporting 

 Magazine of 1796. The fox was found in 

 Newlands Wood, ran to ground in Moor 

 Park, Rickmansworth, then the residence of 

 Mr. Rous, was bolted by terriers, and ran to 

 ground again in Batch Wood near St. Albans. 



In 1 80 1 the Old Berkeley pack became a 

 subscription pack managed by Lord Berkeley, 

 Mr. Williams and Mr. Dupr6. The hounds 

 were, in 1810, taken by the Hon. and Rev. 

 W. W. Capel, with Tom Oldaker as his 

 huntsman, and were kept at Gerrard's Cross. 

 These kennels were afterwards turned into a 

 public house, and on the wall of the adjoin- 

 ing cottage a stone still bears the inscription, 

 ' Huntsman's Hall, 1796.' 



They had three famous runs in Mr. Capel's 

 time from Oxhey, one to ground where Wil- 

 .esden station now stands ; another round 

 Harrow Hill, and killed at Rickmansworth ; 

 and a third run with a kill in Hatfield Park, 

 a fifteen-mile point. In 1816 they had a 

 great run from Bury Bushes, three hours ten 

 minutes, and out of a field of 300 only fifteen 

 were at the finish. Tom Oldaker was hunts- 

 man for thirty-two years. His picture was 

 twice painted by Marshall ; once on his cele- 

 brated horse Brush, which he rode for seven- 

 teen seasons. Grantly Berkeley says of him 

 that when there was little or no scent to 

 serve him he could ' guess a fox to death.' 

 He died at the age of eighty, in the year 

 1831. 



The tawny yellow plush coat was only the 

 hunt livery, the members of the hunt wear- 

 ing scarlet with yellow collars. 



During the mastership of Mr. Capel a cele- 



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