A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



Mr. Thacker also compiled a. code of rules ; 

 but it was not until 1858 that the sport was 

 authoritatively regulated by a code which, with 

 alterations from time to time, is now in force. 

 The official Stud Book was instituted in 1881. 

 But before that time strong clubs were in 

 existence at Workington and Whitehaven ; 

 the latter club being chiefly supported till 

 its dissolution close upon 1870 by the 

 Lowther family, and the latter by the Cur- 

 wens, being then succeeded by the short-lived 

 West Cumberland Club. In the south-west 

 of the county too there was plenty of coursing 

 when the Whitehaven and Workington Clubs 

 were full of life, and at Cockermouth General 

 Sir Henry Wyndham, M.P., permitted meet- 

 ings on the Castle estate for many years. But 

 Cockermouth as a coursing centre was most 

 noted for the Bridekirk meeting, held on the 

 magnificent grass land of Mr. Henry Tesh- 

 maker Thompson's Tarnities estate from 1854 

 until 1 873, when his successor, Colonel Green- 

 Thompson,withdrew the necessary permission. 

 The Bridekirk Cup, the principal stake at this 

 meeting during the nineteen years referred to, 

 was one of the chief coursing prizes of the 

 season, and the thirty-two competing grey- 

 hounds embraced the pick of the celebrities 

 of the kingdom. It goes without saying there- 

 fore that the break up of the Bridekirk meet- 

 ings was a blow to coursing in Cumberland ; 

 indeed, it was the beginning of the decadence 

 that culminated with the Ground Game Act 

 of 1880, and now, unfortunately, the Bor- 

 der Union Meeting on the Netherby estate 

 remains alone in its glory. In the eastern 

 part of the county, moreover, there was at 

 one time or other an abundance of coursing, 

 which the Hares and Rabbits enactment tended 

 to abolish. In this connection prominence may 

 be given to the Brampton Club, the home of 

 which was on the Naworth estate. The club 

 in question existed for some thirty years, and 

 in its palmy times very many greyhounds 

 whose blood courses through the veins of lat- 

 ter day Waterloo Cup winners graduated on 

 the Naworth estate, which, it is interesting to 

 add, can claim the distinction of being the 

 oldest coursing country in Cumberland from 

 a historical point of view. 



The Border Union country has for many 

 years past been second in importance only to 

 the Waterloo Cup in Lancashire, the prize 

 that everybody, fortunate enough to possess a 

 first-class greyhound, is ambitious to win. The 

 Border Union, however, like its prototype, was 

 commenced on very humble lines as far back 

 as 1850, but as time rolled by, the Netherby 

 Cup increased in reputation, and for the greater 

 part of the half-century its sixty-four competi- 



tors have included the pick of the kennels in 

 England, Ireland and Scotland. Luckily the 

 Ground Game Act has not exercised the de- 

 terrent effect so severely felt in every other 

 part of the kingdom, for the sufficient reason 

 that the Netherby tenantry, to a man almost, 

 co-operate in the heartiest manner with the 

 managing committee. Indeed it is a singular 

 fact that the committee is to a great extent 

 composed of the farmers. And it is fitting 

 that the Border Union Meeting should be 

 held on ground that for coursing purposes 

 cannot be excelled anywhere, covering as it 

 does magnificent stretches of grass and seeds, 

 perfectly level, and practically clear of stones, 

 its locality extending from the outskirts of 

 Longtown to Gretna on the banks of the 

 Esk. There are also two less important 

 meetings held on the Netherby estates. In 

 some other parts of England, as well as in 

 Ireland, the exigencies arising out of the 

 Ground Game Act led to the introduction of 

 another form of coursing in the shape of in- 

 closures, in which the hares are really con- 

 fined, and liberated from their covert one by 

 one as required. This was never more than 

 an imitation of the ancient pastime, in many 

 respects contemptible by comparison, and it is 

 creditable to the instincts of Cumbrian and 

 Scottish coursers that no attempt has ever 

 been made to plant this abomination in the 

 Border county. 



In the old days when public coursing was 

 flourishing from end to end of the county it 

 may be imagined that the breeding of grey- 

 hounds was a necessary means to an end. In 

 consequence the best blood north and south of 

 the Border was ever being minlged and dis- 

 seminated, and the present day result is that 

 the lines of long past Cumbrian canine nota- 

 bilities are to be found in the pedigrees of all 

 the winners of valuable stakes, not only in 

 the United Kingdom, but in Australia, New 

 Zealand and the United States, where coursing 

 has for several years past been a popular pas- 

 time. Nowadays however Cumberland is almost 

 destitute of breeding studs, the only one worthy 

 of the designation being Stonerigg near Car- 

 lisle, belonging to Mr. Thomas Graham, orig- 

 inally a Dumfriesshire courser, who for many 

 seasons past has bred winners by the score. 

 Here and there also a farmer breeds on a small 

 scale for the London sale ring, young grey- 

 hounds reared on the breezy and health-giving 

 lands of Cumberland invariably commanding 

 a profitable market. In this connection too 

 several of the principal kennels in the south 

 of England supply team upon team of young 

 puppies for Cumberland ' walks ' ; indeed, the 

 farmers' wives and daughters on the Border 



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