Records of the Cheriton Otter Hounds (History of Hunting Series)

W. H. Rogers

Description

Records of the Cheriton Otter Hounds (History of Hunting Series) This is a high quality hard-back reprint of a classic and much sought after otter-hunting book. Originally published in 1925 and long out of print and very scarce, it covers the history of the Cheriton, and those who hunted with them, in great and intimate detail from the mid 1800s to 1925. Full of pictures and anecdotes it is a fascinating record of a past era. Published in a pictorial soft cover with 324 pages including 21 black + white photographs. List of chapters: - I: INTRODUCTORY - II: THE TAW - III: THE TEIGN - IV: THE TORRIDGE - V: THE CREEDY, KENN AND LYN - VI: MASTERS: OFFICIALS: FINANCE - VII: SPORT WITH MR CHERITON AND HIS DEPUTIES - VIII: ARTHUR HEINEMANN AND HIS PACK - IX: THE "FOX AND HOUNDS" - X: THE WAR - AND AFTER - XI: GENERAL NOTIONS - INDEX - LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 22 mars 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528769792
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Photograph ]
[ R. L. Knight, Barnstaple
GOOD HUNTING!
Records of the Cheriton Otter Hounds
BY W. H. ROGERS, M.A., F.S.A. M.O.H.

PREFACE
T HE literature of otter-hunting does not bulk very large, and, with the exception of Mr. James Lomax s Otter Hunting Diary, there is, as far as I am aware, no printed history of any pack of Otter Hounds in existence, though the Dartmoor have one in manuscript.
There is an old saying that it is the duty of every man to make a child, plant a tree and write a book. Having fulfilled the two former conditions I now complete the triad with these Records of the Cheriton Otter Hounds, so fulfilling the whole Duty of Man.
Mr. Lomax s Diary, interesting as it is, is solely concerned with actual hunts; it gives us no picture of his country, very little about his fields, except a casual mention that the Stonyhurst gentlemen were out, Arthur Las-celles and Whittaker were with me, etc., and no indications of his experiences in hound breeding, and the right and wrong way to hunt an otter. In fact it is a hunting diary pure and simple.
My object in this book is to present as far as possible an accurate picture of the country hunted by the Cheriton pack, the personality of the various Masters from Mr. William Cheriton onwards, some notes on the leading members of the field, and some of the interesting incidents that have come under my personal observation during some forty years hunting.
The chapter entitled General Notions deals with some of the moot points in otter-hunting. Some will agree with my views, some will disagree; I lay no claim to infallibility. They are, at any rate, topics that are of interest to all otter-hunters, and the more they are ventilated the more we may all find wisdom.
My thanks are due to Mr. H. R. Taylor for valuable advice and assistance as well as for obtaining early notices of the C.O.H. from the Field ; to Mr. P. Littleworth for the loan of his father s diary; to Colonel Welch-Thornton for the diary of his season; to Mr. A. B. Heinemann for his racy description of his period of office; to Mrs. Campbell Moller for the photographs of Mr. J. C. Hawker and Captain Pinkett; to Messrs. H. J. F. Stewart, J. M. Pope and others who have rendered me valuable assistance in giving or collecting information.
CONTENTS
I.
I NTRODUCTORY
II.
T HE T AW
III.
T HE T EIGN
IV.
T HE T ORRIDGE
V.
T HE C REEDY , K ENN AND L YN
VI.
M ASTERS : O FFICIALS : F INANCE
VII.
S PORT WITH M R . C HERITON AND HIS D EPUTIES
VIII.
A RTHUR H EINEMANN AND HIS P ACK
IX.
T HE F OX AND H OUNDS
X.
T HE W AR - AND A FTER
XI.
G ENERAL N OTIONS

I NDEX

L IST OF S UBSCRIBERS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Portrait of the Author
From a photograph by R. L. Knight, Barnstaple.
Mr. J. A. Budgett
From a photograph.
Mr. Budgett and pack
From a photograph kindly lent by Miss G. Davis.
Captain T. E. Pinkett
From a photograph kindly lent by Mrs. Campbell Moller.
Mr. C. R. Archer
From a portrait in the possession of G. H. Hext, Esq.
Meet at Eggesford, 1896, with portraits of Mr. W. and Mr. J. Cheriton
From a photograph by Scott and Son, Exeter.
Meet at Eggesford, 1896
From a photograph by Scott and Son, Exeter.
An Old Timer-Mr. J. C. Hawker
From a photograph kindly lent by Mrs. Campbell Moller.
The Old Ash-tree opposite Rashleigh Mill
From a photograph kindly lent by Mrs. Campbell Moller.
Chubb, with hounds, 1900
From a photograph kindly lent by C. R. C. Hibbert, Esq.
Arthur Heinemann, with Sailor, Content, Rector and Monarch, 1903
From a photograph by Elliott and Fry.
Littleworth and his pack, 1909
From a photograph kindly lent by Mr. J. Dunning.
Hounds at Orleigh, 1914
From a photograph.
A joint stickle, Cheriton and Crowhurst, 1914
From a photograph.
His Last Otter: September 30th, 1915
From a photograph by Mr. H. R. Taylor.
Roach, with hounds below Chagford, 1920
From a photograph by Sports and General Press Agency, Ltd.
Holy Street, Chagford, 1920
From a photograph by Sports and General Press Agency, Ltd.
Ashton Station, 1920
From a photograph by E. C. Brooks, Newton Abbot.
Preston, 1921
From a photograph by E. C. Brooks, Newton Abbot.
Lunch at Priorton House, 1924
From a photograph by E. F. Flint, Exeter.
Records of the Cheriton Otter Hounds
C HAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY.
T HE C HERITON O TTER H UNT derives its name from Mr. William Cheriton, of Ellicombe, in Down St. Mary, a small parish in North Devon, fourteen miles north-west of Exeter, who was the founder of the pack. Mr. Cheriton, who was born in 1828, was a yeoman farmer of the old type, owning as well as farming his own land; and, like many others of his kidney, devoted a large portion of his spare time to sport, and more especially to hunting. As a young man he started a pack of harriers with which he hunted hare, fox, or stag impartially, taking many of the latter and sending them to the Queen s Buckhounds or other packs. He used to delight in recalling how, after obtaining Lord Portsmouth s permission to hunt hares in his country, his pack got away on a fox, and actually killed him on the lawn of Eggesford House. His Lordship, however, was far too good a sportsman to bear a grudge, and continued to be one of Mr. Cheriton s chief supporters to the end of his days.
How he came to devote his attention more particularly to otter-hunting is told in local story. One Witheridge market day, having killed a brace of hares in the morning on Witheridge Moor, he arrived with his hounds about midday at the Hare and Hounds Inn and called for some bread and cheese and a glass of cider. The landlord, coming out with the refreshment, says to him: They tell me there s a gert big otter down in the lake, Maister; du ee think your hounds ull hunt un. Don t know, responds the worthy Master, but I ll try. And waydago down to the bridge, found their otter, and killed him after a good hunt, the first otter they or the Master had ever seen. Lake, by the way, is the regular North Devon term for a small stream or brook.
There seem to have been several scratch packs of harriers in the neighbourhood about this period, one in particular being kept by the notorious Parson Jack Radford of Lapford, the Parson Rambone of Blackmore s Maid of Sker. One day Mr. Cheriton had arranged a rabbit shoot at Ellicombe with some of his neighbours, and was considerably disgusted at finding Parson Jack, on the morning designed for the shoot, drawing a gorse right in the centre of his farm. On going up to expostulate, however, the only satisfaction he got was the following reply: Aw my dear, robbuts be tu fat, must make the lazy twoads rin before you zhet em. In person Mr. Cheriton was a fine, tall, well set-up man, with beard and side-whiskers, of a most genial disposition, and a fearless rider in his younger days. In his later years he rode otter-hunting, and it was a fine sight to see him, almost if not quite the last time he hunted hounds himself, seated on his grey pony in mid-stream at Rashleigh, his white hair streaming in the wind as he cheered his hounds on to the kill. A wicked story says that he only went to water once in his life, but then very thoroughly. It was in the Gidleigh gorge on the Upper Teign where hounds for once had got their otter aswim, and Mr. Cheriton had crawled out on to a boulder in mid-stream, balancing precariously, the better to watch proceedings. Presently he is joined by a keen sportsman, somewhat of a noted wag, who, suddenly gazing, or pretending to gaze, the otter, nudges the Master with a There he is, Mr. Cheriton, and down goes our friend over his head in the pool. Mr. Joe ably assisted his father as whip and deputy huntsman, and it has always been matter of dispute as to which blew the best horn or had the finest voice to hounds. On one occasion at any rate the old man proved his superiority. Joe was hunting hounds on the Lapford Yeo, and the old man had ridden forward towards Braddiford. Suddenly he spies some fresh wedging, out comes the horn, and in a moment hounds were streaming across country to join him. When Joe arrived on the scene hot words passed between father and son, the former capping the discussion with the remark: Dang it, bwoy, I ve killed more otters than thee st ever seen. Joe was even taller than his father, and every inch a sportsman. He had a light tenor voice and sang a good song, but was generally rather diffident of appearing in public. He predeceased his father, passing away at the early age of forty-six, on February 11th, 1905.
There were no fixed boundaries in the early days; wherever our Master was asked to go there he went and shewed good sport. G lert in his Guide to the Foxhounds and Staghounds of England, to which are added, the Otterhounds and Harriers of several countries, published in 1849, only mentions two packs of otterhounds - as distinct from harriers - in Devon, viz . the Lyneham with Mr. Trelawny as Master, and the celebrated Limpetty as huntsman, and the East Devon with Mr. John Collier as Master and huntsman. Of the former pack it is stated that Mr. Trelawny uses foxhounds, and when once the otter is moved, they work him with more perseverance and courage than any class of hounds; deep water and a long day are tests which prove their superiority; but they have too much dash for finding the animal, and fling too freely over the trail. A hound cannot be too close in his work to be a clever finder. This is true to a certain extent. With a very hot drag in the early morning hounds wil