THE NORTH DURHAM COUNTRY. 23 



best part of the covert is on the Ushaw Co-llege estate. Gladdbw 

 lies in a secluded vale, with no population near it, and a 

 quieter place for foxes could hardly be found. Nor does it 

 matter what time of day it is drawn, and I have known hounds 

 take a hunted fox through it about one o'clock, and draw it at 

 3.30, and get a great hunt. The occurrence I have in mind 

 took place some fifteen years ago, and hounds ran, with hardly 

 a check to speak of, until six, when it was too dark to go on, 

 and an opportunity occurred of stopping thean. The hunts- 

 man's horse had given in, and a big field (this hunt came at 

 the close of a good day) was reduced to four or five, when 

 hounds were stopped at Satley. 



The huntsman came up a few minutes latea* oai a po^ny 

 borrowed from a farmer, and the only trouble v/as that the 

 fox — who was seen not far in front of hounds just before they 

 were stopped — was not brought to hand. I could mention 

 scores of good runs from Gladdow which I have seen, and I 

 know of others which took place in my absence; but old runs 

 are not alwa3's interesting, except to those who were in them, 

 and I shall only mention one more, which took place in March, 

 1883, shortly before Mr. Maynard's mastership came to an 

 end. Hounds were advertised for Satley, and as the season 

 was nearing its close there was a large field. But Satley lies 

 800 ft. above sea level, and when people arrived from the 

 lower country they found a hard frost in the neighbourhood 

 of the meet. Matters were better at tweJve o'clock ; but the 

 Master did not want to hunt, and probably would not have 

 done so had not a gamekeeper arrived with the information 

 that a fox was lying on a little bit of ploughed land adjoining 

 Hirh Gladdow. As a rule such stories do not bear much 

 fruit, but this was a true one, for as hounds entered the field 

 the fox was viewed leaving it on the other side. Scent was 

 as good as it could be, and hounds raced alongside the Gladdow 

 Beck to its confluence with the Browney, and thence down the 

 valley to Greenwell Ford and left-handed to Newbiggen, going 

 over the frequently used point-to-point course. They then 

 ran through Woodlands, Rippon Burn, the North Plantation 

 (Lord Bute's), and across the Darlington railway at Burc 

 Hill station. By this time the field was greatly reduced, for 

 hounds had been going best pace for nearly an hour, and had 



