THE BRAES OF DERWENT COUNTRY. 63 



the late Mr. William Cowen, a son of Sir Joseph Cowen, and 

 brother of the well-known politician, Mr. Joseph Cowen, and 

 of Colonel John Cowen, who succeeded his brother as Master. 

 All the brothers have been dead for a long period of time, bub 

 for fnrty years two of them kept the country going on an 

 almost nominal subscription, and enjoyed such popularity as 

 is not always .vouchsafed to a Master of Hounds. Mr. 

 William Cowen held office from 1854 to 1868, and Colonel 

 Cowen from his brother's resignation until 1895, and for the 

 greater part of the time the kennels were at Coal Burns, 

 which is towards the eastern end of the ridge which divides 

 the Tyne and Derwent valleys, and very central for the lower 

 or Newcastle end of the country, but which involved long 

 journeys to the western meets. Mr. William Cowen was a 

 very keen sportsman, who kept racehorses and greyhounds 

 as well as foxhounds, and who will be remembered by turfites 

 as the owner of the first Ladas, which horse he sold to Lord 

 Rosebery, then an Oxford undergraduate, for a large sum. 

 The hor§e did not fulfil expectations, but his original owner 

 was not to blame for that, nor had he overrated the colt's 

 abilities as a two year old. I remember William Cowen well. 

 He was a remarkably handsome man, and in hunting clothes 

 suggested the type which is to be found in Herring's later 

 hunting scenes. He was tall and a biggish weight, but got 

 over a country in fine style, and was terribly keen on hunting. 

 What country exactly he hunted on the north-western side of 

 the present Braes of Derwent country I hardly know, for the 

 Tynedale used to. come at times tx) Minsteracres and Healey 

 throughout all the Cowen period, and in point of fact they 

 were the real possessors of this part of the country, as suc- 

 cessors to the Slaley hunt. But their visits were mostly paid 

 in the cubhunting period, and during the spring of the year, 

 and it is a fact that Mr. Cowen's hounds did very little cub- 

 hunting at any time, and practically none during the later 

 years of Colonel Cowen's mastership. But there was never 

 any question about the district west of Shotley Bridge, for 

 though the map of 1856 made it Tynedale country, that pack 

 never came there, whereas Mr. William Cowen was constantly 

 at the Sneep, meeting either at Greenhead or Allansford for 

 the chain of coverts which extend from the place just named 



