MR. EWBANK'S HUNT
Mr. Ewbank's country on the east coast consists of an area of flat land partly in the Brocklesby and partly in the Southwold, which was seldom hunted by either pack, and unless a fox ran thither was practically never visited by hounds. There are no coverts except a few spinneys and 'screens'; but it is the resort of many outlying foxes, and a few litters are bred there. It is a formidable country of wide, deep-cut drains, and the fences, where such exist, are well trimmed and very stiff; there is also much timber. The only drawbacks are the occasional wide outfalls and rivers, impassable for horses. Receiving permission from the Earl of Yarborough and Mr. E. P. Rawnsley in November, 1904, Mr. W. A. Ewbank, of Fulstow Hall, near Louth, got together a few couples of hounds to provide a little sport for the farmers for whom the nearest meets of the two old-established packs lie somewhat wide. The farmers and local gentry have given him cordial support, and several of the leading masters of hounds, among them the Duke of Beaufort, the late Captain Lane Fox of the Bramham Moor, the masters of the Quorn and the Sinnington, contributed to the pack, which numbers some ten couples. Since the hunt was established there have been many really fine runs with the wild marsh foxes. Long runs are the rule, and hounds nearly always account for their fox if he remains above ground. The kennels are at the resident of the master, who hunts his hounds himself, his whippers-in being Mr. W. M. Casswell, North Ormsby Hall, and Mr. T. Mountain, Utterby. Mr. W. G. Smyth, Elkington Hall, is the hon. secretary. The country extends from Holton le Clay and Tetney to the railway from Louth to Mablethorpe; and from the railway from Holton le Clay to Louth to the sea. There is very little grass. Some wire occurs near the sea, but there is none farther inland. The hunting days depend on the fixtures of the Brocklebsy and the Southwold, and meets are notified only to those owners and farmers whose lands the hounds hunt.
THE BELVOIR HUNT
The greater part of the Belvoir[1] country lies in Lincolnshire. The northern boundaries extend from Newark by way of Leadenham and Sleaford eastward to the North Sea, but the fen country east of the railway from Sleaford to Bourne is not hunted, the wide drains and outfalls making it impassable for horsemen. The Blankney is the Belvoir's immediate neighbour on the north, and the Cottesmore marches with it on the south. There is nothing to show when the boundaries of the Old Burton and the Belvoir were fixed, and no change seems to have taken place since the earliest records. Grantham, in the centre of the hunt, and Sleaford, on the Blankney borders, are the best Lincolnshire hunting centres for followers of the Belvoir.
The best country on the Lincolnshire side lies round Folkingham, where there is a wide extent of grass and two capital gorse coverts—Folkingham Gorse and Heathcote's Gorse; the Sapperton and Newton Woods also always hold stout foxes. There are some large woods on the southern part of the Lincolnshire country. Aswarby, Culverthorpe, Dembleby Thorns, Haydor Southards, and Rauceby, are the best coverts in the north. Round Stubton Gorse, the starting point of many a good gallop, there is another fine stretch of country.
Perhaps the best run recorded on the Lincolnshire side was that from Ancaster Gorse on 15 December, 1865, hounds going by Ingoldsby and Laughton to below Dunsby and thence to the Forty Foot Drain at Hacconby, where they killed their fox.
Among the prominent followers and fox-preservers on the Lincolnshire side are the Whichcotes of Aswarby, Mr. J. E. Welby of Allington Hall, the Gregorys of Denton, the Reeves of Leadenham, the Fanes of Fulbeck, the Nevilles of Stubton, the Turnors of Stoke Rochford, Heathcotes, Tollemaches, Thorolds of Syston, Brownlows of Belton, and the Parkers, Hutchinsons, and Hornsbys of Grantham. Mr. Hardy, the Grantham banker, was one of those who invariably got to the end of the best run; and Mr. J. Litchford of Boothby Hall, a squire of the old school and somewhat of a character, was a great authority on hunting; his knowledge of woodland hunting was exceptional. Colonel Reeve of Leadenham and the Rev. T. Heathcote of Lenton were very prominent men in their day, and Mr. Bemrose and Mr. T. Casswell were hard-riding farmers. The most noted of the Belvoir parsons was the Rev. J. Houson, rector of Brant Broughton and Great Coates. When in his seventy-fourth year he had the best of a forty minutes' run from Folkingham Gorse to Aslackby Wood, and Major Longstaffe (in his time a very good man with hounds) says at eighty years of age he could lead the Belvoir field.
THE MARQUESS OF EXETER'S HUNT
The Cottesmore claim a corner of Lincolnshire at Bourne, but the country is seldom hunted, and some of it has been lent to the Marquess of Exeter, who shows much sport. The Marquess of Exeter's pack, partly foxhounds and partly harriers, was established in 1899. It was at first a harrier-pack pure and simple, with hounds entered in the H. and B. Stud Book. In the season 1905–6 the marquess entered his hounds
- ↑ For history of this hunt see V. C. H. Leic.
