SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



Tring, who undertook the kennel management, 

 hounds were still kept at that town. In 1 864 

 new kennels were built at Chorleywood in 

 Hertfordshire. With better preservation of foxes 

 in the centre of the district, the western part, 

 namely the Wycombe and Marlow country, was 

 practically not hunted, hounds seldom going 

 west of Penn, Beaconsfield and Hedgerley. 

 From 1867 to 1869 Mr. C. A. Barnes, of 

 Chorleywood, was master, and on his retirement 

 Mr. Leicester Hibbert, of Chalfont Lodge, and 

 Mr. Oscar Blount, of Orche Hill, Chalfont 

 St. Peter, became joint masters, with Mr. T. 

 Tyrwhitt Drake, of Shardeloes, who had just 

 retired from the mastership of the Bicester Hunt, 

 to assist them with his experience and advice. 

 Hounds were out three days a week, twice in Buck- 

 inghamshire and once in Hertfordshire. In May, 

 1873,3 question of boundary with the Whaddon 

 Chase Hunt was decided by a committee at 

 Boodles' Club, the northern draw of the Old Berke- 

 ley being determined as Halton and Tring Woods. 

 In June, 1874, another question of boundary 

 with the South Oxfordshire Hunt involving the 

 right to draw Kimblewick Gorse was given by 

 an M.F.H. committee in favour of the Old 

 Berkeley. The boundary now recognized runs, 

 roughly, north-west along the road from Tring 

 to Aylesbury as far as the latter town, thence to 

 Hartwell on the west, turning south to Bledlow 

 Wood, through Dashwood Hill, to Hambleden, 

 thence eastward on the line of the Thames nomin- 

 ally as far as the Pool at Wapping. The eastern 

 boundary lies in Middlesex and Hertfordshire. 



During the joint mastership above referred to 

 a good run occurred, terminating in unusual 

 fashion. Hounds hit the line of a travelling fox 

 in the heath at Shardeloes Park ; they ran 

 through Penn and Common Woods, the fox 

 being viewed from the latter at Church Knoll 

 by the Rev. E. T. Drake. They passed on the 

 east side of Penn village and, Holtspur reached, 

 hunted to the edge of the park at Hall Barn, 

 then along Mill Wood above the Wooburn 

 Valley through Hedsor to the park fence oppo- 

 site Dropmore. The fox was too beaten to 

 jump and he ran along the palings towards the 

 Thames, getting across the sunk lane between 

 Hedsor and Cliveden into the woods of the latter. 

 Hounds vanished after him and the riders had to 

 make a long detour by the lodge gates to follow 

 them. In Cliveden they could hear hounds 

 baying the fox at ground in the hanging woods 

 over the river : it was nearly dark, and when 

 they were got together there were two and a 

 half couples short. It subsequently transpired 

 they had followed the fox to ground and had 

 been buried by a fall of chalk. Many years 

 afterwards, about 1 886, another fox was run to 

 ground in the same place, and when digging 

 after him the skeletons of the fox and hounds 

 lost nineteen jears before were discovered. 



In 1875, Mr. A. H. Longman of Shendish, 

 Hertfordshire, became master, and the next season 

 hounds were moved from Chorleywood to new 

 kennels on his estate. Bob Worrall was huntsman ; 

 he had had previous service with the Bicester, 

 Warwickshire, and V. W.H. establishments. 

 Mr. Longman spared no effort to improve the 

 hounds, which were strengthened by fresh blood 

 from the best kennels in England ; and by 

 arrangement with the hunt the pack became his 

 private property. Capital sport was shown 

 during his mastership. In the spring of 1880, 

 the country was divided, and separate establish- 

 ments for the eastern and western divisions 

 were created. Mr. Longman retained the 

 Hertfordshire side, while Mr. Austin Mackenzie, 

 residing at Great Marlow, undertook the Buck- 

 inghamshire country, with kennels at Daws Hill, 

 High Wycombe. The high road from Uxbridge 

 through the Chalfonts and the Missendens to 

 Aylesbury formed the boundary between the 

 divisions : each pack hunted twice a week. 

 Under this arrangement Mr. Mackenzie opened 

 up a good deal of new country on the extreme 

 west in the district of Marlow, Hambleden, and 

 High Wycombe. He acquired Mr. Longman's 

 doghounds to which he subsequently added drafts 

 from the Blankney, Fitzwilliam, and Badminton, 

 thus laying the foundation of the famous pack 

 which he took with him in 1885 to the Wood- 

 land Pytchley country, and on his retirement in 

 1889 sold for the large sum of 5,000. On 20 

 December, 1882, Mr. Mackenzie had a fine run 

 from near Bishopstone round the west and north 

 of Aylesbury by Bierton and Wingrave, ending 

 with a kill near Marston Gate, thus traversing 

 the Old Berkeley, Bicester, and Whaddon Chase 

 countries. On 15 January, 1883, whilst hunting 

 at Danesfield, the Old Berkeley clashed with 

 Mr. Garth's hounds who had crossed the Thames, 

 then in flood, in pursuit of a fox found in Bowsey 

 Hill, Berkshire ; and on i January, 1884, Mr. 

 Mackenzie in turn hunted a fox from Warren 

 Wood, Little Marlow, across the Thames at Spade 

 Oak (above Bourne End), hounds carrying the line 

 as far as Maidenhead Thicket. This performance 

 has not been repeated, although both the South 

 Oxfordshire and Old Berkshire hounds have in 

 recent years swum the river near Wallingford in 

 the course of runs. 



In the spring of 1885, Mr Mackenzie under- 

 took the Woodland Pytchley and with him went 

 the hounds. At the same time Mr. Longman 

 relinquished the Old Berkeley (East) and his 

 pack was dispersed, the various lots making the 

 respectable total of 1,250 guineas at auction. 

 About this time the character of the country 

 began to alter owing to the construction of the 

 Metropolitan Extension railway from Baker 

 Street to Aylesbury, which passed through the 

 centre of the hunt by way of Rickmansworth, 

 Chorleywood, and Amcrsham. There had 



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