THE TYNEDALE COUN'lRY. 143 



to a height of about 1000ft. in its highest part, and has no 

 regular covert on it, though there i& ai good deal of scattiered 

 gorse. Still, hounds frequently cross it, and when this hap- 

 pens the field are hard put. to- it, for the wall&— it is entirely 

 fenced with loose, stone walls — are 5ft. high in places, and 

 have a sheep rail or wire stretched along the top, some Sin. 

 above the stones, and placed there tO' prevent the sheep from 

 scrambling over the walls. Many years ago I camei on to the 

 Moot Law from the Kirkheaton side one very dark night, 

 thinking to cut off a corner on my way to Corbridge, but I 

 quickly found myself in a dense fog, and lost the road, the 

 reisult being that I wandered round for an hour or two, and 

 did not reach Corbridge until nine o'clock. Hounds had had a 

 good hunt in the Capheaton district, and I had lost a, shoe, 

 and whilsti it was being put on two who werei going in 

 the same direction had got too> far ahead for me toi catch them 

 up. I have other recollections of the Moot Law, for in the 

 late 'seventies and early 'eighties there used to> be one or two 

 private coursing meetings there every winter, and a party 

 of us used to leave Shotley at 6 a.m. and drive twenty miles 

 to the fixture with a four-in-hand team. Breakfast, at the 

 farm or at Great. Ryall, as the case might be, was the next 

 item, and then we coursed until dark, and many of the best 

 Northumberland greyhounds of the day used to be among 

 the runners. The tenant of the farm was a courser, and he 

 saw to it that a plentiful supply of greyhounds were forth- 

 coming. No questions were asked as to what the greyhounds 

 really were; all ran in their kennel names, and eight-dog 

 stakes of 5s., 10s., or £1 were made up on the spot, the 

 object of many of the men who brought greyhounds being to 

 obtain a good trial. Thus it happened that those which were 

 obviously the best performers were often drawn after one 

 course; but, on the other hand, if the stakes were run out 

 quickly there were always men who wished to run matches, 

 and I have seen eight or ten of these after the regular pro- 

 gramme had been worked off. The farm in those days carried 

 a fine head of hares; but they were for the most part singu- 

 larly strong and some of the greyhounds got a terrible 

 gruelling. Others, again, were saved by the fact that there 

 were smeuses in the walls which the hares knew and went for. 



