A HISTORY OF DORSET 



huntsman. He was a bold rider with a great 

 knowledge of both hound and country, and has 

 been described as the finest gentleman huntsman 

 of the day. 



He has chosen two among many good runs 

 during his mastership as especially worthy of 

 notice. 



1 8 February, 1904. — The dog hounds found 

 in Withy Tree Copse, one of Air. Drake's 

 coverts, and ran through Brooke, Butterwick, 

 Longburton Gorse to Six Acres, and going 

 across the road through Holm Bushes, went 

 over the Vale. The line from this point was 

 through Whitfield Wood and across the railway 

 at the back of Yetminster to within a field of 

 Clifton Wood. Here the fox turned sharp to 

 the left, and leaving Ryme to the left, hounds 

 raced along very fast past Caswells Gorse, where 

 they pulled their fox down, stiff and cold, close 

 to Drive End, Melbury. The distance as hounds 

 ran was some fifteen or sixteen miles. 



9 January, 1905. — Getting on to a stale line 

 at Horrington the bitch pack puzzled it out 

 slowly to Stowell Covert. Here they got on 

 good terms with their fox, and ran very fast 

 back over the hill through South Cheriton into 

 the Vale. They crossed the Vale and went up 

 over the hill to Sandley, where they got a good 

 way behind the fugitive and hunted slowly on to 

 Thorngrove, Sir Harold Felly's house, near Gil- 

 lingham. Thence they crossed the railway and 

 River Stour into Lord Portman's country, and 

 eventually ran into their fox in some cabbages 

 in a garden at Mr. Honeyfield's farm. Time 

 about one hour and fifty minutes — a lo-mile 

 point — 16 as hounds ran. 



In 1906 Colonel Percy Browne, C.B., who 

 had been master of the South and West Wilts 

 from 1898 to 1900, took over the Blackmore 

 Vale country, with George Alcock as huntsman, 

 and under his auspices sport has been excellent. 

 Alcock started his hunting career with the Dove 

 Valley Harriers in 1879. He served successively 

 with the South Notts, the Meynell, the Black- 

 more Vale, and the Cattistock, finally returning 

 to the Blackmore Vale. Colonel Percy Browne 

 carries on the system of breeding favoured by his 

 predecessor, and the hounds are a most workman- 

 like lot with lots of music and drive. There are 

 plenty of foxes, the county is well in favour of 

 hunting, and there are no troubles with shooting 

 tenants. 



The Blackmore Vale country is in the main a 

 bank and double ditch country, chiefly pasture with 

 big woodlands, but at the Sparkford Vale end 

 the fences are of a flying description. It is 

 about 21 miles north and south and 25 miles 

 east and west, and is bounded by the South and 

 West Wilts, the Cattistock, the South Dorset, 

 and Lord Portman's. The subscriptions to the 

 pack are regulated by the number of horses kept, 

 iiiid there is a splendid system for the wire and 



30S 



poultry fund, the country being divided up into 

 some eighty districts, with an honorary overseer 

 to look after each, so that a small amount of 

 trouble keeps everything straight. The kennels 

 are at Charlton Horethorne, where they have been 

 for many years. 



The Cattistock* 



Most of the country lies in Dorset, but there 

 is a small portion in Somerset. It extends some 

 25 miles by 18 miles and adjoins the Blackmore 

 Vale, the Taunton Vale, the East Devon, and 

 on the other side the South Dorset. There is 

 a great deal of pasture land with a little light 

 plough and some downland, and part of the 

 country is bank and double ditch with a few 

 stone walls and a certain amount of timber. 

 The Cattistock Hunt is of great age, although, 

 like other Dorset packs, it has only hunted 

 its present country since the resignation of 

 Mr. Farquharson, who, as is mentioned above, 

 hunted the whole of Dorset. In 1761 John, 

 ninth earl of Westmorland, hunted a pack of 

 foxhounds from Forston, and in 1780 there is a 

 record of hounds called * The True Blue Hunt,' 

 kept at Cattistock Lodge by the Rev. J, Phelips. 

 This gentleman had a famous huntsman named 

 Isaac Rogers, who was known by all as ' The 

 Doctor.' He was a great character, and count- 

 less anecdotes are told of him. Visiting a 

 well-known pack of hounds renowned for their 

 beauty, Rogers was asked his opinion of them. 



' Why,' he replied, ' they be beauties to look 

 at, but they hain't hafe so scraitched 'bout their 

 faces as our old maister's be down to Montacute.' 

 Another good story is told of him, that on a 

 good scenting day, when hounds in a thick fog 

 had run clean away from the field, 'the Doctor' 

 was an hour trying to get to them, and when at 

 last he reached them he found them coming 

 back by themselves. Rogers was of opinion 

 that they had killed their fox, and Mr. Phelips 

 remarked to him, ' You had better get off and 

 smell their breath. That will soon tell you.' 

 ' No, no, maister,' returned the old man, with 

 a knowing look, ' that '11 never do. A pretty 

 story would be carried up along into the New 

 Forest next April, that the Doctor didn't know 

 when his hounds had killed their fox without 

 getting off to smell the breaths o' 'em.' 

 * Masters from i860 to 1900 : — 



Lord Poltimore from i860 to iS/z 



Mr. J. Codrington „ 1872 „ 1877 



Captain Macnaughten „ 1877 » 1878 

 Mr. J. Codrington 



(second mastership) „ 1878 „ 1883 

 Lord Guilford „ 1883 „ 1886 



Mr. Fetherstonhaugh „ 1 886 „ 1887 

 Mr. Phipps „ 1S87 „ 1888 



Mr. R. Chandos-Pole „ 1888 „ 1897 

 Mr. J. Hargreaves „ 1897 „ igoo 



Rev. E. A. Milne and 



Mr. W. F. Fuller „ 1900 



