140 HARE-HUNTING AND HARRIERS 



of their own, consisting chiefly of maritime marsh 

 pasture. The kennels are at Brookland, and the 

 late Master, Mr. Thomas Bayden, hunted his own 

 hounds.* The Thanet and West Street harriers are 

 two neighbouring packs, also hunting near the sea. 

 Both, curiously enough, consist of twenty-one-inch 

 dwarf foxhound bitches. Lord Decies masters and 

 hunts the Thanet ; while Mr. J. E. Allen is Master, 

 and Mr. A. Ffrench Blake the huntsman, of the West 

 Street pack, which until igo2 had been hunted for 

 some seasons by the Earl of Guilford. Both are 

 pleasant countries, somewhat troubled, however, by 

 wire. The Sandhurst is a fine old-fashioned looking 

 pack of genuine Southern harriers, fifteen couples in 

 number, and ranging in standard from nineteen to 

 twenty inches. Hunting the Weald of Kent they 

 are kennelled at Boxhurst Farm, Sandhurst. Mr. 

 James Farley, of Forge House, Ticehurst, is Master 

 and huntsman. The country is a fair one, little 

 troubled by wire, and comprising pasture, plough, 

 and woodland in about equal proportions. 



Surrey is by no means strong in harriers, the only 

 pack hunting in that goodly county being the Ripley 

 and Knaphill, with kennels at Worplesdon, near 

 Guildford. Mr. Echlin, the Master, hunts his own 

 hounds, and is assisted by his wife, who whips to him, 

 with the aid of a kennel huntsman. The pack consists 

 of seventeen couples of twenty-one-inch dwarf fox- 

 hounds, which hunt a country consisting in great 

 part of rough, heathy common-land. The Ripley and 

 Knaphill are a pack with a history, having been first 

 established so far back as the end of the eighteenth 

 century by the Rev. Onslow, in whose family they 

 were maintained till about thirty years ago. 



* Mr. Bayden, to the deep regret of many friends, died 

 suddenly this year (1903). 



