Lancashire Legends, Traditions, Pageants, Sports, &c./Part 3/Otter Hunting in the Fylde

OTTER-HUNTING IN THE FYLDE.

Thomas Tyldesley, of Myerscough Lodge and Foxhall (Blackpool), in his diary, under the date of Friday, August 28, 1713, records that he "went an otter-hunting, and killed an otter near New Mill, which Cuddy Threlfall and I dressed. We were a great many, good company—Cuddy Threlfall and Barton, Thomas Barton, and all the neighbourhood—and we ate the whole otter. I paid for Wilding, Cuddy Threlfall, and self, 3s.; so to bed. We drank the house dry." James Lomax, Esq., of Clayton Hall, was long noted for his love of otter-hunting, and his pack of hounds were notorious throughout the whole of Ribblesdale.

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