SPORT ANCIENT AND 



MODERN 



WITHIN the borders of the small 

 county of Dorset a great variety 

 of sport is to be found, inter- 

 esting both for its antiquity and 

 its excellence. The wild nature 

 of the country and the smallness of the population 

 have doubtless been greatly in favour of sport, and 

 a strong love of it is inborn, not only in the leading 

 families of the county, but also in the yeomen 

 farmers of Dorset, a class of men whose equal can 

 hardly be found anywhere out of England. Even 

 among Dorset labouring men this love of sport 

 appears, and they will be found always ready to tell 

 the line of the hunted fox, the best spot in the river 

 or bog to find wild-fowl, or the deep pool where 

 the largest trout rises in the gloaming. Dorset 

 is a county where every description of English 

 sport may be enjoyed, save indeed deer-stalking ; 

 and even an imitation of this may be attempted 

 with a rook rifle and a grazing roe-buck, on the 

 edge of any of the great fir plantations. 



Hunting naturally takes the precedence, 

 whether of fox, roe, or hare ; but at the same time 

 shooting and fishing are of a very fine order, and, 

 as will be seen from their individual history, 

 hold a prominent position amongst the records 

 of sport in England. 



Racing and coursing are not carried on to any 

 great extent in these days, but many notable 

 horses have been bred and trained in the county. 

 Polo has of late years received a great deal of 

 attention in one part of the county, and some of 

 the best players of the day belong to the club. 

 A short notice of hawking will be found at the 

 end of the article on shooting, and this sport de- 

 serves a mention, one of the finest flights of hawks 

 in the world having been trained and flown in 

 Dorset. 



The ancient history of sport in the county 

 brings before us more than one royal hunting 

 ground. Domesday Book speaks of a forest and 

 chase at Wimborne, of which there are no 

 signs now. In the reign of Edward I we have 

 mention of forests at Powerstock, Gillingham, 

 and Blackmoor ; arid Bere Wood is the remains 

 of what was a great forest in the reign of King 

 John. The decoy and the unique swannery at 



Abbotsbury, where there are at least i,ooo swans 

 take us back to very ancient times. 



Of historical hunting grounds in the county 

 the two most famous perhaps are the Isle of 

 Purbeck and Cranborne Chase, and in Hutchins's 

 History of Dorset we read of Purbeck : — 



The forest extended over the whole island, and the 

 woods were well stocked with red and fallow deer 

 and stags, especially in the west part, but these were 

 destroyed in the Civil Wars, and few, if any, have 

 remained in the memory of man. 



In old evidences it is styled the ' Forest,' 

 ' Chase,' and ' Warren ' of Purbeck, and seems 

 generally to have been reserved by our princes 

 for their own diversion. King James I was 

 the last of the English kings who hunted here. 



The author of a Survey of the IFestern Counties 

 in 1635 says : — 



In this island doth range many goodly deere that are 

 hedged in with a surer pale than wood, which, when 

 they are hunted will adventure into the sea and take 

 salt soils, whereby they stand long and make brave 

 sport, of which (having a fit opportunity and a little 

 time to cast away) I had some part, much to my 

 content. 



Cranborne Chase was also a royal possession, 

 and its history is full of evidence of friction be- 

 tween the owners and the inhabitants of the 

 chase. We read, for instance, that 'a certain deer 

 came wounded into the vill of Kingston on the land 

 of Hereward de Marreys, and the deer being weak, 

 the villeins and women took it,' which coming to 

 the ears of the steward of the earl of Gloucester, 

 he sent his foresters to distrain for the said deer and 

 ' they took a thousand two teeth sheep and kept 

 them till Hereward paid a fine of twenty marks.' 



As early as 1343 hares and foxes were hunted 

 in Cranborne Chase, and in an action taken 

 against Philip, the forester of the earl of 

 Gloucester, one accusation was that ' they take 

 the dogs of the freemen in the Chase, where 

 they had always been accustomed to hunt hares 

 and foxes.' 



In the article on fishing it will be seen in 

 what early days the history of the Frome 

 fishery begins and how it too was for centuries a. 

 royal preserve. 



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