164 HUNTING IN MANY COUNTRIES. 



Coquet which Lord Elcho took over. The enthusiast just 

 named came to Northumberland in 1843, and began hunting 

 in the north of the country, but in the following year he 

 seems to have also had the district between the rivers Coquet 

 and Alne as well, and he is credited with this district in 

 Hohson's Hunting Atlas, which was published a few years 

 later. I have always understood that between 1844 and 

 1854 there were kennels at Belsay, and these would be more 

 central for a country which included the present Morpeth 

 and Tynedale hunts than Blagdon, Belsay being almost in 

 the centre of the two hunts. According to tradition, the 

 Ridley hounds were famous for long hunts, and on January 

 30th, 1832, they ran from Dissington Whin (in the Tynedale 

 country) to the coast at North Seaton, which means a point 

 of great length. 



But a projws of what has been just written, I may refer 

 my readers to certain extracts which have been quoted from 

 Sykes's Local Records, and which deal with the Morpeth 

 country. From these extracts it would appear that 

 the second Sir Matthew White' Ridley — ^who isi referred 

 to in the extracts — handed the hounds over to the committee 

 immediately after his father's death, and not at a later period, 

 as has been very broadly stated, and that, in fact, this small 

 committee period came in between the masterships of the two 

 Sir M. W. Ridleys. Also it is evident that the hounds 

 belonged to the Ridleys until they were sold in 1845 — after 

 the arrival on the scene of Lord Elcho in the north, Mr. 

 Watson, of North Seaton, in the centre, and Mr. Nicholas 

 Maughan on the west of the country. But how long the 

 committee of two — or of three according to local records — 

 was in existence, and at what exact date, I havei no par- 

 ticular evidence, except tradition, which places the period at 

 two seasons. Perhaps some reader of this book may be able 

 to clear up this point, and may also have information as to 

 the Belsay kennels, how long they were used, and whether 

 the pack was there in its entirety — and for how long — or 

 whether the kennel was only a supplementary one to the 

 larger kennel at Blagdon. 



In 1854 there were considerable changes as regards the 

 hunting of South Northumberland and the boundaries of the 



