A HISTORY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



a rule the fish do not run very large, although 

 some large bream and chub are occasionally 

 caught. The fish are almost invariably caught 

 bottom-fishing. Worm, wasp, grub, stewed 

 wheat paste are the baits most used. Good fish 

 are often taken dibbling with the natural fly. 

 There is very little, if any, fly-fishing. Pike are 

 mostly caught with a live bait on snap tackle ; 

 sometimes a dead frog is used. 



So far as the watershed of the Severn is con- 

 cerned Gloucestershire angling is of very little 

 account. In the Thames watershed the case 

 is different. The Coin, a tributary of the 

 Upper Thames, rising in the Cotteswold Hills, 

 affords some trout fishing. It is a clear, bright 

 stream with very low banks, and it holds some 

 very large trout which give the dry-fly angler 

 sport as good as can be found anywhere in Eng- 

 land. It resembles in character a Berkshire or 

 Hampshire stream. The trout are shy and re- 

 quire considerable skill to catch, but are very 

 game and well worth taking. The fishing is 

 very carefully preserved, no lure but the fly being 

 allowed, and any but dry-fly fishing being useless. 



The Fairford fishing is an object-lesson to the 

 rest of Gloucestershire, and in fact to the rest of 

 England. In its lower waters the Coin has but 

 few trout, and swarms with coarse fish. In its 

 upper and middle waters the coarse fish are 

 rigorously kept down, with the result that there 

 is really fine trout fishing. A mill with an im- 

 passable weir marks the boundary ; below it the 

 fishing is practically worthless, above it excellent. 

 The Coin remains one of the best of the trout 

 streams in mid-England. All the other Glou- 

 cestershire streams are ruined by coarse fish. 

 They work up from the main river, breed 

 rapidly, and exterminate the trout. The Stour, 

 which runs into the Avon near Shipston, might 

 be a fine trout stream, but it swarms with coarse 

 fish. The same is the case with almost all the 

 brooks that run down from the Cotteswold 

 Hills into the Avon and Severn. In them the 

 trout is rapidly becoming extinct. The same is 

 the case in many of the brooks on the west side 

 of the county, and until landowners unite and 

 get rid of coarse fish Gloucestershire will be of 

 little account in the eyes of anglers. 



GOLF 



The first club established in the county was 

 that of Minchinhampton, in April, 1889. That 

 of Stinchcombe Hill followed in October, 1889. 

 The institution of the Minchinhampton Club 

 was mainly due to the efforts of Mr. Arthur 

 Playne ; the inhabitants of the surrounding 

 villages having enjoyed from time immemorial 

 certain rights over the common, which covers 

 about 1,000 acres, were strongly averse from the 

 establishment of a golf course on it. Their 

 objections were overcome by Mr. Playne, who 

 was greatly helped by Messrs. Clement Ritchie, 

 F. H. Playne, A. E. Smith, J. T. Woolbright, 

 and the Rev. E. H. Hawkins. There are now 

 390 members (including 150 ladies). The ladies 

 have a separate club and separate g-hole course ; 

 both that and the course of 18 holes for men 

 are on Minchinhampton Common, a level tract 

 situated on a spur of the Cotteswold Hills, 

 i miles from Nailsworth and 3 miles from 

 Stroud. The hazards consist of quarries, ancient 

 entrenchments, roads, and a pond. The course, 

 one of the finest of the inland links in England, 

 was originally laid out by N. B. Wilson, but it 

 has been a good deal altered and improved since, 

 especially by the present professional, G. Brews. 

 The game can be played all the year round, but 

 the links are perhaps at their best in May and 

 June, and in October. The lies are excellent, 

 especially in these months. Many county 

 matches, as well as club matches, are played 

 here, and there are two meetings annually, 

 which invariably attract many first-class players. 

 There is an excellent club-house adjoining Ye 



Old Lodge Inn. The Stinchcombe Hill Club 

 was organized in October, 1889, through the 

 initiative of Colonel W. Lloyd Brown and Miss 

 G. Osborne (now Mrs. Walker), and the g-hole 

 course was laid out the same year by the writer 

 and Mr. H. Goldingham. It was lengthened into 

 an i8-hole course in October 1906. A gully 

 300 ft. deep, stone quarries, and ancient earth- 

 works constitute the principal hazards. The 

 greens are particularly good, the turf being very 

 fine. There are over 100 playing members, 

 including ladies. The Cheltenham Golf Club, 

 established in 1891, has on Cleeve Hill, from 

 700 to 1,000 ft. above the sea, a course which 

 was laid out by Tom Morris. In point of 

 membership this is the largest club in Gloucester- 

 shire ; there are 363 members, of whom 1 10 are 

 ladies. There is a separate club for ladies, who, 

 however, play over the same course. The 

 eighteen holes vary from 141 to 486 yards. The 

 turf is close, resembling that of sea-side links, 

 and the greens are excellent ; the rapidity with 

 which the ground dries up after rain is note- 

 worthy. Cleeve Hill is nearly 4 miles from 

 Cheltenham. The members, about 100 in 

 number, of the Cotteswold Hills Club, estab- 

 lished in 1 902, play over the same course. This 

 latter club must not be confounded with the 

 Cotteswold, whose course is at Stow-on-the- 

 Wold ; this club was organized in November, 

 1891, chiefly through the instrumentality of the 

 Earl of Eldon, Messrs. C. A. Whitmore, T. W. 

 Stubbs, H. E. Rose, and Colonel Wynter. It 

 consists of about sixty members. The g-hole 



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