Lakeland Hunting Memories: Volume Two

By Wendy Fraser

In February 2005, shortly before the “ban” came in, I sat on a cold sunlit fell-side with my son.
We sat waiting, trying to keep warm in the cutting wind. “Soon this will be gone,” I said, “and personally I don’t think it will come back.”
He looked at me. “Maybe you’re right,” he said. “You’ve followed hounds all your life, you have loads of stories. Why not record them as a bit of history?”
From this casual remark evolved the popular website 'Lakeland Hunting Memories'.
Ron Black, like his forefathers, was born and raised in the English Lake District and here relates some of his memories of hunting with hounds, competing in fell races, the heroic exploits of his family members, along with historical accounts written in the 1800s and earlier. An evocative, and frequently amusing, record of the characters, social history and culture of the fells. Have a look at Ron’s website www.lakelandhuntingmemories.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wendy Fraser
• Release date: Dec 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301582358

Wendy Fraser

After a busy working life travelling and taking on a variety of different careers I went to university as a *very* mature student. There I achieved an MA & BA, and became a lecturer. Along the way I've written quite a bit and at last have found the ideal way to share some of it with you. It ranges from local history and Italian literature to editing and illustrating Ron Black's Lakeland Hunting Memories (see www.lakelandhuntingmemories.com). I've already published some printed books at Blurb.com.When I'm not sitting at the laptop formatting stuff for eBooks I'm an equestrian artist and web designer and always seeking out a new challenge!

Book preview

LAKELAND HUNTING MEMORIES

More recollections of Lakeland hunting in the 50s and 60s

Written & introduced by Ron Black

Compiled & edited by Wendy Fraser

Copyright 2012 by the author, Ron Black.

Ron Black and Wendy Fraser retain sole copyright to their contributions to this book. All rights reserved.

Published by Windsor-Spice Books at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of the creators of this book.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Lakeland Fox Hunting - A History

Sunrise

A Season With Joe Bowman and the Ullswater Foxhounds, 1920/21

Wasdale Fell Race

A Night In Heaven

Cumbrian Hale-Bopp

The Hutton Roofer

Mart Hunting

A Day of The Coniston Foxhounds by Richard Clapham

Brait And Spider

Rangebarrow Crag

See Everything

Poultry Worrying and Other Sic [Such] Like

Yer Daft Bugger - Dove Crag

London

My Last Meet

But What Was It Like To Follow Hounds In The Years Before The Ban?

The Closing Meet

Aftermath

Conclusion

About the Author

Other Publications

Introduction

In February 2005, shortly before the ban came in, I sat on a cold sunlit fell-side with my son. The high fells were covered in snow, it was a beautiful day. Across the valley hounds marked a gone to ground fox,

We sat waiting, trying to keep warm in the cutting wind. Soon this will be gone, I said, and personally I don’t think it will come back.

He looked at me. Maybe you’re right, he said. You have followed hounds all your life, you have loads of stories, why not record them as a bit of history? From that conversation some years later came the Lakeland Hunting Memories web site. Today (Nov 2012) it has received 183,000 plus hits.

The book you have (I hope!) purchased contains some of those stories and memories. To me there appears little chance of hunting coming back; if it does it will never be as it was.

I hope you enjoy these memories, and finally I owe a debt of thanks to Wendy Fraser whose talent has made, and continues to do so, the books and web site so successful.

Ron Black

November 2012

Here are more pieces from the website Lakeland Hunting Memories, some already archived, others new and yet to be uploaded to the site. Ron skilfully intertwines history with his reminiscences of colourful characters, folklore and his own personal experiences following hounds over the Lakeland fells.

It is always a pleasure and a privilege to prepare and present Ron’s work.

Wendy Fraser

November 2012

Lakeland Fox Hunting

A History

This is simply a brief history of hunting in Lakeland - it is no substitute for any of the books written on the subject.

* * *

Part One

In the 18th century, there was a custom known as ‘Foresters Corn’ by which the bailiff kept dogs for the hunting and destroying of foxes and other ‘vermin’

In the neighbourhood of Patterdale he received 40 quarts of oats from every tenant for this service. For some reason the bailiff refused to keep the dogs any longer. With no dogs being kept the vermin multiplied, as did reports of lamb worrying. A meeting was held in the local vestry where it was decided to raise money to hire a man to destroy the vermin. But before this was accomplished the churchwarden paid out of his funds a bounty on the head of dead vermin at the following rates.

For killing a fox …………………….. 10 groats

For killing a fox cub …………………. 3 groats

For killing an eagle ……………………3 groats

For killing a wild cat …………………. 2 groats

The parishioners acquired the swiftest foxhounds and hired skilful sportsmen with guns and every other engine of destruction. W C Skelton (Reminiscences of Joe Bowman, 1921) recorded the outcome:

Whitsun-week 1759 was fixed for the attack, and within the first week 12 foxes were destroyed. The campaign yielded 15 foxes, seven badgers, 12 wild cats, and a large number of eagles and ravens etc. (p. 109)

Parochial records show that the payment from church funds for the slaughter of foxes and other animals and birds viewed as pests continued for many years. In fact, parish records show that Borrowdale kept a rope in the valley especially for use on eagles’ nests. This ‘rope’ apparently was loaned out to adjacent parishes (including Langdale) but the surviving Churchwardens’ Accounts give no indication as to the usage.

J P N Watson in his autobiography Blue and Scarlet, published in 1990, quotes Hutchinson writing in 1794 about the inhabitants of Loweswater.

The people here live in harmony and they express contentment. The peasantry have one enjoyment here, which is prohibited to most men of their class. Through the liberality of their lords a hound is kept in nearly every house. Two or three qualified inhabitants take licence to kill game and command the pack. As soon as the harvest is in, an honest cobbler shifts his garb and becomes huntsman, and every second or third morning collects the dogs and calls the sportsmen to the field. The cottagers climb the mountainside where they can view the chase, and without much exertion enjoy the pleasures of the hunt, after which they retire with cheerful minds and invigorated constitutions to their peaceful homes. (p. 158)

These circumstances led to the formation of the trencher-fed packs, i.e. one where hounds are looked after by individuals and were brought together on a hunting day, which preceded the present packs.

These became the fell packs starting with the Coniston in 1825.

Part Two

With the formation of the more ‘organised’ packs hunting changed, but not all that much. Hounds were kept in kennel during the hunting season and in the summer months were walked by local supporters, and this remains the practice today. A full time huntsman who usually had another man to help him as referred to in the preceding chapter replaced the ‘cobbler’ who hunted hounds. He was known as the Whipper-in and his job, besides helping with the kennel work, was when the hounds ‘lowsed’ (loosed) to get onto the high ground as quickly as possible and see which way the hunt went. As can be imagined these men soon became very fit; one of the most famous was B. Wilson of the Ullswater who was known as ‘the flying Whip’. The lakes were divided into areas, each one hunted by a different pack.

Life was hard; there was no transport, so hounds and huntsmen walked to and from the meet. If they were in an area miles from the kennel they went for a number of days, walking there and back at the end of the week, hounds being put up in the barn and the huntsmen with the farmer. Fallen stock was collected by horse and cart and taken to the kennels where it was boiled up with meal to