Page:Highways and Byways in Lincolnshire.djvu/518

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east to the river Witham on the west, and from Market-Rasen and Louth on the north to the fens on the south. It is probably more varied than any part of Lincolnshire. The marsh with its wide ditches comes on the east; the wolds, mostly light plough, in the centre; while on the west they dip into a mixed country of grass and plough. The fen country, all ditches and plough, is in the south; hounds, however, only occasionally get into it, as there are hardly any covers. Very short masterships have been the rule, but a committee ruled for nearly twenty years (1857-76), at the end of which time foxes were very scarce in the country. Mr. Crowder then came for four years, and in 1880 Mr. E. P. Rawnsley took the country, and is still master. With latterly the aid of Mr. J. S. V. Fox, and now of Sir W. Cooke, so great an alteration has taken place that whereas formerly four days a week sufficed to hunt the country, now it is always hunted six days, Sir W. Cooke taking the north side and Mr. Rawnsley the south. Sir W. Cooke has a pack of his own, while Mr. Rawnsley hunts the pack which belongs to the country and has been bred from all the best working strains of blood obtainable. Though there are some very big woods on the edges of the country, the centre is all open; there are few railways and no rivers, the scenting conditions are fair, and it is probably the second best hunting country in Lincolnshire.

Conspicuous supporters of the hunt are the Heneages of Hainton, and the large extent of covers and country owned by them has always been open to hounds. The Foxes of Girsby and Mr. Walter Rawnsley of Well Vale have been the same. The late Captain J. W. Fox was for many years chairman of the committee when it ruled the affairs of the hunt, and his son was for seven years joint master with Mr. Rawnsley, during which time the sport was of higher average merit than it had ever attained. Many more residents now come out than was formerly the case, and everywhere the stock of foxes is far better than thirty years ago.

Somersby, the birthplace of Tennyson, is situated in the centre of the hunt, but we never heard of the Poet Laureate joining the chase in his young days. Then Spilsby, the birthplace of Sir John Franklin, and Tattershall Castle, noted as one of the finest brick buildings in England, are both of them in the Southwold country.