The Blackmoor Vale, 389 



West Wilts. Now there are fifteen days wliere there 

 used to be five, and many more foxes now than then. 

 For, with the exception of the Upper Sparkford vale, 

 the supply is fully equal to all demands ; and Sir 

 Richard is never at a loss where to draw. The present 

 Master has hunted the Blackmoor Vale for the last 

 sixteen years. Leweston House, near Sherborne, is 

 his residence ; and the Kennels (built by Mr. George 

 Wingfield Digby, originator of the present Hunt) 

 being quite in the centre of the country, he is enabled 

 to turn which way he pleases, and orders his meets 

 and draws to suit circumstances. 



The rest of the country is very varied. The Stal- 

 bridge vale (extending, perhaps, as far as Fifehead 

 Magdalen and Temple Coombe), wherein many of the 

 Tuesday meets are fixed, is not so deep as further 

 south ; the enclosures are small, and the banks strong 

 and high. Double fences are not as frequent here as in 

 some other parts. The drainage is mostly above ground 

 both . here and in the Pulham vale, and intersecting 

 drains, four to six inches deep, cross most of the 

 meadows, and render progress difficult for bad 

 shouldered ones, or horses unused to such traps. In 

 such a country you soon learn to gallop over the 

 drains at an angle, a subterfuge which will generally 

 keep you on your legs. The Chetnole neighbourhood 

 may likely enough come in to Tuesday meets ; and so 

 may Compton House and Pointington (a moderate 

 country, with some light plough — but always the 

 chance of getting into a vale), though the two latter 

 are perhaps more often chosen for a Monday. The 

 leading meets of the Stalbridge yale are Five Bridges^ 



