THE BRAES OF DERWENT COUNTRY. Ill 



together in a group half a dozen foxes may leave the oovert 

 on this side; but these enthusiasts have a habit of straggling, 

 and in consequence many foxes are headed here and sent back 

 to covert in the course of every season. All the same, many 

 good hunts come from Spen Bank every year, more especially 

 perhaps when it is an afternoon draw not anticipated by the 

 miners of Spen village. There is a nice whin covert a mile 

 further east, and a capital cover beyond named Thornley 

 Burn, an old oak plantation which, though there is a road at 

 either end, is well secluded. This covert has a good reputa- 

 tion for sport, while at Laud Wood, just beyond, there usted 

 often to be a fox, but I have not been there for several seasons. 

 Axwell Park, the most eastern covert, in the hunt, generally 

 shelters a breed, but they are difficulti to hunti, for there is 

 a deer park within the estate, and a great deal of beech in 

 the coverts, which are, on the whole, bad scenting ground. 

 I have seen many good hunts which ended at Axwell, but few 

 which had their beginning at these covertiS, and the fact seems 

 to be that if a fox is; found inside Axwell — which is surrounded 

 by a high wall — he is disinclined to leave the park and itg 

 environs, while a fox which belongs to Axwell and is bred 

 eilsewhere will make straight for the park, and will know 

 where he can scratch his way up the wall. When this 

 happens — and it does happen fairly often — hounds have to 

 be taken in at one of the gates, and then back to where the 

 fox came in, and this generally means that the fox had the 

 best of it afterwards. I have seen similar places in many 

 hunts, and my experience is that where a park wall is too high 

 for hounds the fox is generally lost. But I have a vivid 

 recollection of one fox, who entered Axwell on the west side, 

 was hunted through the park, and emerged on the Scotswood 

 side, ran on to the Tyne, and attempted to cross within a 

 quarter of a mile of Scotswood Bridge. He was drowned in 

 midstream, recovered from a boat, and broken up in the 

 field adjoining the Newcastle to Carlisle Railway. Axwell has 

 lately been bought with a view to building. 



West of Axwell, less than a couple of miles away, is Blaydon 

 Burn, long the residence of the late Colonel Cowen, and imtil 

 twelve yearsi ago the home of his son, Mr J. E. Cowen, who 

 now resides at Minsteracres. Colonel Cowen's kennels were 



