SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



average about eighteen in number on eacii day 

 that the hounds meet. 



The following extract from The Sporting 

 Magazine of 1825 is of interest as referring to 

 these hounds : — 



The Kirkham harriers are the joint property of 

 Mr. H. Hornby of Ribby, and Mr. Bolton King ; 

 both are yet young in the sporting world, but the 

 establishment would do credit to an older hand . . . 

 The hounds are a remarkably fine pack showing great 

 breed and power, and very active in getting together. 

 I have never seen hounds better calculated to show 

 sport, from the fine head they carry with a good 

 scent, and their excellent noses and steady hunting 

 when scent fails. The handsome appearance of the 

 hounds and men must have been very gratifying to 

 Mr. King, whose exertions in the field are very great, 

 and his manner quiet and gentlemanly ; the hounds 

 are hunted by Dick Lowe, son of the veteran Abra- 

 ham, the huntsman of the Liverpool Harriers ; he 

 has been trained under the old one, and does him 

 credit. He is one of the best workmen on a horse I 

 ever saw. The whipper-in is a lad. The country 

 we were in yesterday was good, but the greater part 

 that they hunt over in the Fylde is deep with stiff 

 fences ; it carries however a good scent, and as the 

 pace of these hounds is, if anything, too fast for 

 harriers, the horses must often be distressed. 



The writer goes on to describe the hunting 

 of a bagged fox and concludes his notice of this 

 pack as follows : — 



I finished the week at Broughton with the Kirkham 

 Harriers and we only mustered a small field. I had a 

 better opportunity of looking over than on the pre- 

 ceding day, and was much pleased with their condition 

 and discipline. Chorister I I consider a perfect bitch, 

 as if she had been modelled for a model. This pack 

 has been established three seasons, and was grafted on 

 that which formerly hunted the north of Preston 

 under the name of the Goosnargh Harriers, and which 

 were parted with, very opportunely for Mr. Hornby 

 and Mr. King, at the time they were filling their 

 kennel. 



The Fylde has seen several packs. It was at one 

 time hunted by Mr. Clifton of Lytham, and another 

 time by some Kirkham gentlemen, joined by Lord 

 Strange. All agree it was never done as well as by 

 the present managers. 



Since 1897 an annual point-to-point steeple- 

 chase meeting has been held in connexion with 

 the hunt, which has proved most successful. 



The Pendle Forest Harriers were in existence 

 in 1776. The kennels are at Waddington, and 

 the hounds as a rule meet two days a week, with 

 every now and then an extra day thrown in. 

 Their master is Mr. Ralph John Aspinall of 

 Standen Hall near Clitheroe. The country over 

 which this pack hunts is entirely pasture land 

 with a little moorland ; after Christmas, one day 

 a week, they hunt deer. The pack at the 

 present time consists of twenty-two couples of 

 hounds. 



The date of the establishment of the Rochdale 

 Harriers is unknown. In 1879 the whole pack, 

 with the exception of the puppies which were out 

 at walk, had to be destroyed, owing to dumb 

 madness breaking out ; but for these puppies, all 

 the famous old blood would now have been lost. 

 The usual number of hares killed during the sea- 

 son averages about one hundred, the record season 

 being that of 1896-7, when one hundred and 

 thirty-three hares were killed. The kennels are 

 at Crankyshaw near Rochdale : the hounds meet 

 two days, and occasionally three, a week. The 

 country hunted is both pasture and moorland, 

 and there is no plough or woodland ; the pack 

 consists of eighteen couples of hounds, and the 

 master is Mr. Benjamin Heap, of Rochdale. 



The Rossendale Harriers have been kennelled 

 at Newchurch in Rossendale for the last sixty 

 or seventy years, but for many years before that 

 they were trencher-fed. They formerly hunted 

 three days a week, but now only twice. The 

 master is Mr. Harold M. Kenyon. The country 

 consists chiefly of pasture land inclosed by stone 

 walls in place of hedges ; a very small area of 

 the country hunted is moorland. The pack 

 consists of nineteen couples of hounds. 



The Vale of Lune Harriers have their kennels 

 at Hornby and they hunt two days a week. 

 The master is Colonel William Henry Foster of 

 Hornby Castle. Their country, which consists 

 mainly of pasture with some plough, moorland, 

 and woods, lies partly in Lancashire, Yorkshire, 

 and Westmorland. There is a great deal of 

 wire. The pack consists of twenty couples of 

 hounds. 



Mr. F. Woods' Harriers were founded in 

 1897 ; they have their kennels at Newton-le- 

 Willows, and hunt on foot. Their country is 

 that previously hunted by the Hon. R. Gerard's 

 harriers, and extends from the Mersey to the 

 Douglas in the north, and to the Glaze on the 

 east. It contains a fair sample of all sorts, in- 

 cluding pasture, plough, moor, and woodland. 

 The great difficulty this hunt has to contend 

 with is that the country over which they hunt 

 is intersected with railways, and every year some 

 of the hounds are run over. The pack, which 

 consists of twelve couples, is a good one for music, 

 but the hounds are very apt to over-run the 

 line. 



BEAGLES 



The only pack of beagles in Lancashire is 

 that at Hulton. It was established in 1898, and 

 has its kennels at Brakesmere, Little Hulton. 

 It is a private pack owned by the master, 

 Mr. Leonard Lockhart Armitage, who hunts 

 them himself. The country hunted does not 

 carry a good scent, and is much cut up by rail- 

 ways. The pack consists of sixteen and a half 

 couples of Stud Book beagles. 



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