A HISTORY OF SURREY 



76) he made the Staines and Ascot railway 

 the boundary between the two countries ; 

 but the Union pack have not gone further 

 west in that direction than St. George's Hill, 

 which lies immediately south of Weybridge. 

 Roughly speaking the boundaries of the hunt 

 may be drawn from Surbiton to Banstead on 

 the north, from Banstead to Holmwood on 

 the east, from Holmwood to Guildford on 

 the south, and from Guildford to Surbiton, 

 thus completing the circle, on the west. 



On the whole the Union country is a 

 better one than that of the Old Surrey, at 

 least if it be judged from the rider's point of 

 view alone. Very big woodlands with deep 

 holding rides are its worst feature ; on the 

 other hand perhaps none of it is so good as 

 the Old Surrey vale country between Nut- 

 field and Godstone. Hills there are in the 

 Surrey Union, notably the great range which 

 begins with the Merrow Downs on the east 

 of Guildford, and extends to Leith Hill, near 

 Holmwood, on the extreme eastern border of 

 the hunt. Box Hill, the Mickleham Downs, 

 the hills which lie between Bookham and 

 Dorking, are also somewhat formidable ; but 

 the north-western portions of the hunt are 

 fairly flat, and south of the big range of hills 

 there is a considerable amount of vale. From 

 the foot of the Banstead Downs to Ewell 

 and Esher the country is undulating and 

 good galloping ground. South-west from 

 Esher to Guildford, on either side of the 

 Portsmouth Road, is a flat rather than a hilly 

 country. Hereabouts however are two enor- 

 mous areas of woodland, the Princes' Coverts 

 on the east side of Esher, which lie close to 

 the woods of Claremont, and St. George's 

 Hill, a few miles further away, which with 

 the adjacent coverts ot Burwood House form 

 a huge tract of woodland. About Byfleet 

 and R.ipley the country is fairly flat and open, 

 and though there are plenty of coverts be- 

 tween Leatherhead and Guildford they are 

 not of great extent. All this portion of the 

 hunt is thinly populated, and so far is fairly 

 free from building. 



Indeed the Surrey Union has suflFered much 

 less from the encroachments of the builder 

 than has the Old Surrey country. It is true 

 that a huge lunatic asyliun, and many other 

 new buildings, the property of the London 

 County Council, have lately been erected at 

 Horton near Epsom, and on the south side of 

 Sutton there has been considerable increase 

 of villadom, while at Weybridge and Wok- 

 ing — especially the last-named place — whole 

 colonies of new houses have lately sprung 

 into existence ; but beyond Esher on the 

 Portsmouth road, between Esher and Guild- 



ford in fact, there has been no building worth 

 mentioning for many years past, saving only 

 at Eaton Park, near Cobham, where a few 

 scattered villas have been erected, which, at 

 present at all events, cannot interfere with 

 the hunting. Woking is of course some 

 miles off the main road, and on the railway, 

 and the lines of building always follow the 

 rail or the river Thames in this particular 

 district. Thus it happens that east of the 

 Portsmouth road, when once the river Mole 

 is crossed at Cobham, the hunting man finds 

 himself in a fine, wild and fairly open coun- 

 try, and when once the best roads through 

 the coverts are known, in quite a nice country 

 to ride over. The fences are mostly on a 

 bank, with a ditch on one side, sometimes on 

 both, and there is quite as much grass as 

 arable land. 



It is in fact a fair hunting country this 

 north-western portion of the Surrey Union ; 

 but the Princes' Coverts are a terrible place 

 in wet weather, the rides being few and far 

 between and generally of the deepest clay. 

 Then too, if scent is not particularly good, 

 foxes will not leave the woodlands, and the 

 field may be kept all day in these intermin- 

 able thickets, where it is no easy matter, even 

 for a huntsman, to keep within sight and 

 hearing of hounds. St. George's Hill and the 

 neighbouring Burwood Park have a strong 

 heather bottom, and in St. George's Hill 

 there are many wild deer, so that a more 

 difficult place for hounds to hunt a fox could 

 hardly be found. South of the Mole at Cob- 

 ham many of the fir plantations are much 

 more open, but from Esher to Wisley Com- 

 mon the country is all heavily wooded, while 

 it is open from Stoke D'Abernon to Leather- 

 head. Hereabouts at Slyfield the point to 

 point steeplechases of the hunt and of the 

 West Surrey Staghounds are usually held. 

 There is a nice tract of open country near 

 Chessington and Hook up to Worcester Park, 

 perhaps the nearest point to London where 

 foxhounds are now seen ; but possibly the 

 members of the hunt prefer the vale country 

 about Cranleigh, Baynards, Ockley and Ewe- 

 hurst, at the extreme south-eastern corner of 

 the hunt. This country is pretty well wooded 

 too, but covert and open are nicely mixed, 

 and it lies well away from population ; also 

 the foxes are said to be wild and strong. 



It is probable, almost certain, that there 

 are not so many wild foxes in any part of 

 Surrey as there were a quarter of a century 

 ago. Some owners of property there are who 

 place shooting before hunting, and the shoot- 

 ing tenant is much in evidence in some parts 

 of the county. People who do not live in 



