THE TYNEDALE COUNTRY. 153 



away to tli© north, and beyond it a vast expanse oif grand hunt- 

 ing country, which contained no industrialism and no popula- 

 tion beyond thei ordinary agricultural community, and all this 

 could be seen at a glance from the hill on which the kennels 

 stood. 



No doubt the district was " ripe for building," as the land 

 exploiters &ay, and no doubt also more dwelling areas were 

 being demanded by the growing town close by. But from a 

 hunting point of view matters were not improved, for by the* 

 building of a light railway — as it was at first; it is 

 now an ordinary line — from Newcastle to Ponteland, eight 

 miles north of the former place, building operations sprang up 

 in several quarters, and a very nice piece of hunting countiry 

 became, if not altogeither spoilt, at all eventa sadly mutilated. 

 When I was a boy the nearest coverts to Newcastle were a 

 spinney or two near Whorlton, not more than four miles from 

 the town. There was also Wallbottle Dene, a certain find 

 when Mr. J. T. Ramsay lived at Wallbottle Hall and looked 

 after the foxes; but I do not hear of the Dene being drawn 

 in these days — though it may be — and 1 imagine there is too 

 much population near it, for the industrialism now extends 

 some miles west of Newcastle along the riverside, and there 

 are one or two new collieries in the districti. I saw hounds 

 run to Wallbottle Dene not long before the war fro.m Throokley 

 Fell, and that was while the light railway was being laid, and 

 the country was full of rumour as to the " live v;ire " system 

 being adopted. There is, however, a comparatively new colliery 

 called North Wallbottle, which is quite close to Jingling Gate, a 

 favourite meet of Mr. Lamb's harriers, and there is a building 

 estate between that place and the Cowgate, through which 

 rung the Newcastle to Stamfordham road, and theire are fur- 

 ther building sites near the North road, not far from Ponte- 

 land, and also " village homes " and so forth. From what 

 I have been told the coverts have not suffered much, but hunt- 

 ing people who have had experience of such matters know 

 that suburbs of every sort alter the hunting of a disitrict, and 

 in my opinion they interfere even more with sport than a 

 colliery does, the lasti-named being as a rule a, self-contained 

 affair, with colliery and colliery village covering a compara- 

 tively small piece of ground. There are practically no collieries 



