SPORT ANCIENT AND 



MODERN 



LANCASHIRE is perhaps the county 

 of England of which it is most 

 difficult to obtain ancient records of 

 ^ its various sports. Even as late as the 

 year 1 803, when Colonel Thornton 

 made his famous tour in the north of England, 

 his account of Lancashire reads more like a story 

 of wanderings through the jungles of Central 

 Africa than a visit to an English county. 



In the time of the Plantagenets Lancashire had 

 great forests, the principal of which were those of 

 Quernmore, Wyresdale, Bleasdale, Bowland, Pen- 

 die, Trawden, and Rossendale. These forests^ 

 contained all the wild beasts that then inhabited 

 this country : red and fallow deer, wolves, wild 

 boar, wild cattle, fox, and hare. As cultivation 

 spread and population increased the wild creatures 

 gradually disappeared. The only beasts of the 

 chase mentioned in those days which now exist 

 in the county are the red and fallow deer, fox, 

 and hare. 



Hunting is now practically confined to the 

 chase of the hare, and there is not a single pack 

 of foxhounds that has its kennels in the county. 

 Of the many venerable harrier packs the Hol- 

 combe is the oldest. These hounds were honoured 

 by royalty in the days of James I, an account 

 of whose connexion with them will be found 

 below. 



The shooting in the county is excellent, and 

 this is a very extraordinary thing when one con- 

 siders the numerous large towns that are in it. 

 Partridges and pheasants do very well, and the 

 county is noted for its numerous and fine hares. 

 Wild pheasants are extremely partial to the 

 county, and as many as 150 have been killed in 

 a day on a shoot ^ where no birds are put down. 



Lancashire used to boast of two duck decoys 

 in the olden days. Now there is only one, namely 

 that at Hale near Liverpool. Traces of the 

 other, at Orford Hall near Warrington, can be 

 seen, though much overgrown ; unfortunately, 

 there are no records of this decoy. 



* By the word 'forests' was meant ' a certain territory 

 of wooded grounds and pastures privileged for wild 

 beasts and fowls of forests, chase, and warren to rest 

 and abide in, under protection of the King for his 

 princely delight and pleasure.' 



' Lord Newton's shoot at Newton-le-Willows. 



Fishing in Lancashire has sadly deteriorated 

 during the last seventy years, owing chiefly to 

 the pollution of the waters caused by chemicals, 

 sewage, and other filth which the towns reck- 

 lessly pour into them. All the rivers in the 

 county had fish in abundance in the olden days, 

 the Mersey being specially famous for the spar- 

 lings caught in the estuary. Windermere and 

 Coniston are noted for a fish called the charr, 

 introduced by the monks of Furness, which 

 is peculiar to these waters. The male, which 

 is known as the milting charr, has a red 

 belly, and its flesh is somewhat white ; the 

 female has no red on the belly, but its flesh is 

 very red. This fish is sometimes called the 

 alpine trout. 



Horse-racing has been carried on in Lanca- 

 shire from very early days ; but when we see 

 the steeplechase of to-day, the Grand National 

 for which Lancashire is so justly famous, it 

 seems strange to read the following extract, 

 entitled ' Curious Horserace,' ' from a sporting 

 magazine of a hundred years ago : — 



A wager betwixt Captain Prescott and Tucker of 

 the 5 th Light Dragoons was determined on Friday 

 the 20th instant, by a single horserace which we 

 learn is denominated ' Steeplehunting.' The race 

 was run from Chappelhouse on the western pike road 

 to the Covif-gate, Newcastle, a distance of about three 

 miles in a direct line across country. The mode 

 of running such races is not to deviate more than 

 1 5 yards from the direct line of the object in view, 

 notwithstanding any impediments the rider may meet 

 with, such as hedges, ditches, &c. The leading horse 

 has the choice of road, to the extent of the limits, 

 and the other cannot go over the same ground, but 

 still preserving those limits, must chose another for 

 himself. 



Horse-racing was carried on at Manchester, 

 Preston, Liverpool, Newton, and Heaton Park. 

 The earliest recorded race-meetings were those 

 held at Manchester in 1730 ; but they only 

 continued for fifteen years, and were not re- 

 sumed till 1750, and then only in the face of 

 much opposition. 



The race-meetings in those days generally 

 lasted for two days, and not more than one race 



sporting Magazine (1803), 120. 



467 



