working miner won the Gosforth Gold Cup of £1,000 with his own dog, Kangaroo II.); and as such gentry had no land to course over, and very little chance of leave, they would travel great distances—money never seemed any object to them—to obtain a satisfactory trial. The late squire of Broomshields[1] was almost as fond of coursing as he was of hunting, so that when his health made it imperative that he should give up riding to hounds, he cast about for means of procuring good coursing with as little trouble to himself as possible, and hit upon the idea of allowing trials to all respectable people on a Saturday. The fact soon became widely known in the district, and at one time the squire was literally swamped with applications.
The supply of game, however, was not equal to any great demands; but for two or three seasons it was a case of 'first come, first served' on a Saturday, and I have entered the Broomshields stable-yard at 9 a.m. to find from thirty to forty greyhounds waiting to take their chance. One Saturday in January 1883 we had one of those doubtful mornings when frost, snow, and mild weather seem to be struggling for the mastery, and when a regular advertised meeting would
- ↑ John Maddison Greenwell, of Broomshields, one of the best all-round sportsmen the North Country ever produced; he died in 1886.
