Chapter II: Preface

Whilst there are a good many books descriptive of foxhunting in the Shires and the provinces, there are few works entirely devoted to sport in the rough fell country of the Lake District.

It is, therefore, with the idea of filling this gap in hunting literature that I venture to pen the following chapters. Foxhunting on the fells differs in so many ways from sport in the riding countries that perhaps this book may serve to interest the man from the Shires, even if it does not tempt him to visit the fells and see something of the sport for himself.

For the man of slender purse the fells will prove a happy hunting ground indeed. There is little cause to worry about ways and means in a country where subscriptions vary from 2_s._ 6_d._ to £5. All you want to enable you to follow hounds is a stout heart, a stick, and a “piece” in your pocket, and if luck favours you, as it assuredly will if you go out often enough, you will find yourself becoming more and more wedded to this wild country, which, in sunshine or storm, has so many attractions for those who are not afraid to tackle it in all its varying moods.

R. CLAPHAM.

TROUTBECK,
WINDERMERE,
_April, 1920_.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE COUNTRY 1

II. THE FELL FOX 23

III. THE FELL HOUNDS 47

IV. HUNTING ON THE FELLS 70

V. REMINISCENCES 99

ERRATA

Page 24, line 16: _for_ twenty-one _read_ twenty-three.

Page 110, line 2 from bottom: _for_ sixty _read_ thirty.

Transcriber’s Note: the errata have been corrected.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

BRUCE LOGAN, ESQ., M.F.H., MASTER OF THE CONISTON FOXHOUNDS
AND THE WINDERMERE HARRIERS _Frontispiece_

FELL HUNTING COUNTRY: THE HIGH STREET RANGE, FROM TROUTBECK PARK 4

FELL HUNTING COUNTRY: THE HIGH STREET RANGE, FROM WANSFELL 4

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: HOUNDS AND THEIR HUNTSMAN CLIMBING STEEL FELL,
IN THE SNOW 10

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: A KILL IN THE SNOW ON STEEL FELL, NEAR GRASMERE 12

CHARLES WILSON, ESQ., EX-MASTER AND HUNTSMAN OF THE OXENHOLME
STAGHOUNDS 14

(Mr. Wilson formed this pack in 1887, and was Master and
huntsman for over thirty seasons)

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: AFTER A KILL IN THE LOW COUNTRY 18

(An admiring audience of boys looking at the fox)

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: BRUCE LOGAN, ESQ., M.F.H., AND ROBERT LOGAN,
ESQ., DEPUTY MASTER 20

BROAD HOWE: A “BORRAN” OR EARTH AT THE HEAD OF THE TROUTBECK
(WINDERMERE) VALLEY 28

(This is a very strong place, and is typical of the
fell-country fox-earths)

LOOKING INTO BROAD HOWE “BORRAN” FROM ABOVE, AFTER MEN HAD WORKED
FOR A WEEK TO RESCUE TWO TERRIERS, ONE OF WHICH DIED BELOW GROUND 28

THE ARMISTICE 38

A THREE-WEEKS-OLD FOX CUB 40

FOX CUBS, THREE WEEKS OLD 40

A DOG-FOX CUB, TEN DAYS OLD 42

(Note white tag to immature brush)

MISS HILDA CHAPMAN (DAUGHTER OF ANTHONY CHAPMAN, EX-HUNTSMAN OF THE
WINDERMERE HARRIERS) AND HER PET FOX, “JACKY” (THREE YEARS OLD) 42

“CRACKER,” LATE OF THE CONISTON PACK: A BIG HOUND OF THE FELL TYPE 50

“MISCHIEF,” LATE OF THE CONISTON PACK: A BITCH OF THE FELL TYPE 50

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: THE PACK 54

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: THE PACK IN KENNELS AT GREENBANK, AMBLESIDE 54

ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: THE PACK WITH THEIR HUNTSMAN. OPENING MEET,
OCT. 11TH, 1919 58

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: AT THE “TRAVELLERS’ REST” INN, ON THE SUMMIT OF
THE KIRKSTONE PASS (1469 FT.) 64

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: WAITING FOR THE PACK ON THE FELL 64

BLENCATHRA FOXHOUNDS: ON RIGHT, GEORGE TICKELL, ESQ., EX-DEPUTY
MASTER (1907-1919) 70

(Mr. Tickell has hunted regularly since he was a boy at
school, thus covering a total of nearly seventy years. He is
“still going strong”)

FELL COUNTRY HUNTSMEN: LEFT—GEORGE CHAPMAN, HUNTSMAN, CONISTON
FOXHOUNDS. RIGHT—JIM DALTON, HUNTSMAN, BLENCATHRA FOXHOUNDS 74

ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: JOE BOWMAN, THE HUNTSMAN 76

BLENCATHRA FOXHOUNDS: GONE TO GROUND ON ARMBOTH FELL 77

BLENCATHRA FOXHOUNDS: AFTER A KILL AT RAVEN CRAG, NEAR THIRLMERE
LAKE, NOV. 7TH, 1919 77

ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: OPENING MEET AT BROTHERSWATER, OCT. 11TH, 1919 80

(Joe Bowman, the huntsman, talking to two of the field)

ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: JOE BOWMAN, HUNTSMAN (SINCE 1879), WATCHING
HOUNDS AT WORK IN LOW WOOD, NEAR BROTHERSWATER. OPENING MEET,
OCT. 11TH, 1919 84

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: “GONE TO GROUND” 86

(Hunters working their way into a “borran”)

ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: B. WILSON, THE WHIPPER-IN, WITH FOX KILLED IN
SCANDALE VALLEY, OCT. 11TH, 1919 87

“PINCHER” AND “MYRTLE,” TWO CONISTON HUNT TERRIERS 90

“JUMMY,” A TERRIER WHICH DID MUCH GOOD WORK FOR THE CONISTON HUNT 90

ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: GONE TO GROUND BELOW HIGH PIKE IN THE SCANDALE
VALLEY, WINDERMERE LAKE IN DISTANCE 92

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: WATCHING A HUNT FROM BROAD HOWE “BORRAN,” AT
THE HEAD OF THE TROUTBECK (WINDERMERE) VALLEY 96

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: ROUGH GOING NEAR DOVE CRAG 102

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: GEORGE CHAPMAN, THE HUNTSMAN, WITH FOX, AFTER
A KILL IN GREENBURN 104

BLENCATHRA FOXHOUNDS: ERNEST PARKER, THE WHIPPER-IN, AFTER A KILL
AT RAVEN CRAG, NEAR THIRLMERE LAKE, NOV. 7TH, 1919 105

ULLSWATER FOXHOUNDS: OPENING MEET, OCT. 11TH, 1919. LEFT—W. H.
MARSHALL, ESQ., M.F.H. RIGHT—B. WILSON, THE WHIPPER-IN 107

(Waiting for a fox to bolt from an earth below High Pike in
the Scandale Valley)

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: HOUNDS AND THEIR HUNTSMAN IN THE SCANDALE
VALLEY 110

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: AFTER A KILL NEAR CONISTON 110

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: AFTER A KILL IN WOUNDALE 111

CONISTON FOXHOUNDS: AFTER A KILL ON NAB SCAR, RYDAL 111

FOXHUNTING ON THE LAKELAND FELLS