352 The Hunting Countries of England. 



to swell tlie supply of the smaller coverts in tlie vale. 

 Occasionally from tliese hill woodlands a fox may 

 travel away across the uplands; and by taking his 

 field for a gallop over the Duke^s stonewalls add still 

 further to the varieties which a rider with The Berkeley 

 will have to encounter. But a run in this direction is 

 not nearly so frequent an occurrence as might be 

 supposed, for in addition to the strength and rough- 

 ness of the woods themselves there exists between the 

 two countries for a considerable length a great gulf — 

 with woods and hill on either side. So a fox found 

 on the Berkeley brink of the ravine will most likely 

 only cross over to the Badminton side, to return, 

 when he finds hounds are still after him, without 

 caring for further exploration. This secondary valley 

 runs up northward by Wootton-under-Edge — Tiley, 

 for instance, being neutral. The course of the hills as 

 they overlook the Yale and the Severn, is approxi- 

 mately by Wootton-under-Edge, Coaley Wood, Wood- 

 chester, Standish, Painswick, St. Leonards, Leck- 

 hampton and so on above Cheltenham. 



It would be supposed from the maps that a large 

 tract of country across the Seven — as far as Monmouth, 

 Ross, Mitchell Dean and Newnham, is still hunted by 

 Lord Fitzhardinge. As a matter of fact, hounds are 

 now scarcely ever taken over the water at all, though 

 the new railway bridge just constructed near Sharpness 

 Docks offers every facility for transport. The Forest 

 of Dean, which occupies the heart of this area, was 

 always a wild woodland tract, almost hopeless in its 

 roughness. Now that coUieries are in full swing in 

 every corner, and railways competing thickly for the 



