A HISTORY OF DORSET 



angn' tones. Near Bagber the hind was viewed in 

 the Blackwater, but before hounds came up she was 

 off, and the field, now reduced to fifteen in number, 

 went on by the Bagber brickfields and over Haydon 

 Common to Stoke Wake. Here the gallant hind was 

 taken, after a run of two and a half hours, the earlier 

 part of which had been at racing pace. The Lady 

 Theodora Grosvenor and Mrs. Clay Ker-Seymer were 

 well up till near the end, the only members of the 

 field who were actually up when the deer was taken 

 being Mr. Merthyr Guest, Mr. Clay Ker-Seymer, and 

 one of the whippers-in. 



An amusing incident occurred during one of 



the drag hunts, showing the way in which the 

 hounds evidently ran the foot and not the drag. 

 The man who was carrying the drag, feeling 

 thirsty, left it at a little distance from a public- 

 house, and having gone to the house and slaked 

 his thirst, returned and continued on his way. 

 When the hounds arrived at the spot they did 

 exactly the same, going straight to the public- 

 house (causing great fun), and returning to the 

 spot where the man had picked up his bait, went 

 on and finished the run. 



After parting with the bloodhounds (the pack 

 going to Lord Carrington), Lord Wolverton 

 built a new house at Iwerne Minster, near 

 Shaftesbury, and kept a pack of smart harriers, 

 which he hunted himself on deer and hare and 

 showed great sport. 



Roe-Deer Hunting 



Roe-deer hunting deserves considerable notice 

 in the history of the county, for Dorset, being 

 one of the very few homes of the wild roe-deer, 

 is the one part of England where the roe has 

 been systematically and regularly hunted. Their 

 existence here is due to George second earl of 

 Dorchester, who somewhere about the year 1800 

 turned down a few Scottish roe-deer in the 

 woods of Milton Abbey. From this source 

 Mr. Mansel-Pleydell in 1829 took some to the 

 Whatcombe Woods, and they now have become 

 very numerous and fairly widely spread through- 

 out the county. Nearly all the large coverts 

 now hold roe-deer, one of their favourite haunts 

 being Hethfelton Plantation, where they are 

 strictly preserved by Mr. J. W. T. Fyler- 

 Henbury. Roe-deer are also found in Bere 

 Wood, Melcombe Park, Milton Abbey, Ilsington 

 and Yellowham woods, and in some of Lord 

 Ilchester's coverts. 



The earliest regular pack of roe-deer hounds 

 was kept by Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, who hunted 

 them for some fifteen or sixteen years. Mr. Yeat- 

 man of Stock House and Mr. James Harding of 

 Misterton hunted roe and hare indiscriminately. 



Mr. Drax, and later on Mr. Charles Rad- 

 clyfFe of Hyde, kept special packs for roe-deer, 

 as well as packs of foxhounds, and in quite recent 

 years Lord Ilchester kept a pack of roe-buck 

 hounds. 



According to the Sporting Magazine for 1824, 

 Mr. Pleydell's pack consisted of 18 couple of 

 dwarf foxhounds and a few moderate-sized 

 harriers. They had finished that season in April, 

 having killed fourteen brace of deer. In the 

 middle of the season they killed six consecutive 

 times, each deer giving a good run of from three 

 hours to three hours and a half. The huntsman 

 was William Rice, who is buried at Milborne, 

 and on his tombstone it is stated that ' he was 

 the first man that ever hunted a pack of roe-buck 

 hounds.' 



Of these hounds a record of one run is related 

 by Mr. "Symonds in Runs and Sporting Notes from 

 Dorsetshire. 



The roe-buck hounds of E. M. Pleydell, Esq. of 

 Whatcombe House, closed the season with a brilliant 

 day's sport on Saturday, 5 April, 1828. 



They threw off at Elcombe Wood, and in about 

 ten minutes a fine buck was viewed going over the 

 opposite hill in gallant style for Escombe, through 

 which he passed and made for Turnworth ; here he 

 remained a few minutes, and then broke over the 

 downs into the Vale of Blackmoor to Ibberton, where 

 being headed by some labourers, he ascended the hill, 

 and skirting Ibberton Park, ran to Houghton Wood, 

 passed through that extensive covert, and turned 

 through the inclosures of M. Davis, Esq., to a coppice 

 at some distance near Durweston. Thence he made 

 for Elcombe and again attempted the hill ; but his 

 strength failing, he turned back into covert, and 

 passing directly through, broke on the other side ; and 

 the whole pack (with the exception of one couple of 

 hounds) ran into him in view in a short furze brake 

 on the down, after a run of one hour and fort)- 

 minutes without a single check, and the greater part, 

 particularly in the open countr}', at speed. 



The mountain harriers kept and hunted by 

 Mr. James Harding of Higher Waterson enjoyed 

 wonderful sport after roe for several years about 

 1830 and onwards. 



Mr. Charles RadcIyfFe in 1856 commenced 

 roe-deer hunting with hounds bought from Mr. 

 Bellew. They were foxhounds crossed with 

 bloodhounds, most tenacious of the line of the 

 hunted deer, seldom changing except when a 

 fresh deer got up in view. These hounds are 

 reputed to have given grand sport, and the 

 account of one run with them on 3 April, 1857, 

 will show their powers of endurance. 



This run was from Lytchett High Wood, of 

 4 hours 10 minutes, and the distance run was about 

 2 5 miles. The deer broke away for Lytchett Manor 

 House through the covers and over the Pailey Gate 

 and Poole Road, went straight ahead, taking all the 

 Henbury plantations in his line. Turning to the 

 right over that enormous extent of wild heath nearly 

 to Poole Junction, he bore to the left for Hamworthy, 

 where he turned short back and went right through 

 the Henbury covers again ; he then crossed the Bland- 

 ford and Wimborne turnpike, took the meadows, and 

 crossed the River Stour near White Mill. The 

 refresher was much needed, for this strong animal 

 went straight for Badbury Rings as fresh as ever, took 



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