THE HOUNDS. 



If one were to drive from the now important town of 

 Grimsby, along the Barton street towards Brocklesby, one's 

 eye would be caught by the glimpse of a picturesque red- 

 bricked Manor House nestling in the trees, a quaint old 

 church hard by, and a few old-world cottages in the back- 

 ground. It is the first village we pass after emerging 

 from the twisting thoroughfares of Laceby, and it is 

 worthy of more than a passing glance, if not for its own 

 good looks, most certainly for its associations, Mark it 

 well, for it is one of the cradles of the historic Brocklesby 

 pack ; that square church tower was the winning-post of 

 the first recorded steeplechase in Lincolnshire, and beneath 

 its shadow Mr. John Thornton conducted the record sale 

 of the late Mr. William Torr's celebrated shorthorns. 



The parish of Ajdesby belongs to the Drakes, the 

 direct descendants of the Tyrwhitts ; in fact, they are 

 now known as the Tyrwhitt-Drakes, and a few remarks 

 concerning them must be made in order to show their 

 intimate connection with the Brocklesby pack. It is from 

 Mr. Robert Vyner's " Notititia Venatica " that I learn that 

 somewhere about 1590 the Tyrwhitts were lords of the 

 Kettleby manor, and lived in a baronial hall, complete 

 with moat and drawbridge, near Bigby, now a little 

 village nestling at the foot of the AVolds on the high-road 

 from Caistor to Brigs^. Some remains of this hall were 

 to be seen at the beginning of the nineteenth century. 

 These Tyrwhitts, in the reign of Edward II., intermarried 

 with the Skipwiths, whether the Yorkshire or Lincolnshire 

 branch I cannot say ; but the numerous family of Skip- 

 worths in North Lincolnshire to-day are, I know, the 



