200 The Hunting Countries of England. 



be drawn into play. As it is there is nothing to draw- 

 foxes down from The Wrekin on the one side^ or from 

 Sundorne or Haughmond on the other. The Wrekin 

 is a great wooded height — a landmark for many miles 

 — among whose rocky sides a fox is secure from 

 all attacks and can laugh his pursuers to scorn. 

 Occasionally a wanderer finds his way down to 

 Attingham on the river bank, and gives a pleasant 

 chivvy back to his quarters j but of late this has been 

 a rarity. 



South of the Severn, again, the country at once 

 assumes a closer and rougher type. The inclosures 

 are smaller, the hedges grow strong and high, the 

 ditches are deep, and the banks often rotten. Imme- 

 diately south of Shrewsbury — say from Bomer to 

 Acton Burnell — is the pick of this below-river section, 

 and coming under the head of what the natives term 

 ffyery good Shropshire country^' — by which they infer, 

 probably, sporting, good - scenting ground, mostly 

 plough, and better for hounds than for horsemen. 

 This district includes from Cound on the riverside, 

 Pitchford, Condover, and Stapleton to Oaks Wood — 

 beyond which, again, begin hills and broken ground, 

 whither hounds are seldom taken. 



The Kennels are at Lee Bridge, about ten miles 

 north of Shrewsbury; and the hounds, formerly the 

 property of the present master, were bought by the 

 country on the occasion of his former resignation. 

 Some of the meets require a long journey by road 

 (the rail being never used) — Acton Burnell and Loton 

 Park, for instance, being about twenty miles from 

 Kennel. Lord HilFs place is Hawkstone, some three 



