FROM THE ARCHIVES:Sports pages a century ago carried blow-by-blow accounts of fox and stag hunts through a litany of local place names, as in this report of Ward Union stag hunts. -
JOE JOYCE.
AFTER THREE days’ enforced idleness, during which time king frost held sway, we were enabled to get to work again on Thursday. small field mustered at Kilrue, when another day’s good sport was brought off.
The deer was enlarged at Mr. Hugh Malcolmson’s farm at Peacockstown, and, with a fair scent hounds went away fast over to the Hill of Ballyhack, and bearing to the left went to Mullinam, where the stag was lying in a deep ditch.
He soon outpaced his pursuers, and hounds raced away over in front of Fairyhouse Standhouse, and straight across the road into Porterstown.
Leaving Old Fairyhouse on the right, they went through Mr. T. L. Moore’s farm, and on to Wilkinstown. Nearing Mr. P. J. Mulvany’s house a welcome check occurred, as the going was awfully deep and holding, and on hounds hitting off the line on the avenue a much longer check intervened.
They next crossed some plough, which considerably interfered with the pace, and then getting into a country where sheep were abundant, they could only work out a foiled line very slowly across by the Union, and over the road into Johnstown. Wrong information caused confusion here, and meanwhile the stag was getting further ahead, and, after going through Mr. Ball’s marshy bottoms under Readsland, the chase was abandoned, and the stag left an outlier.
The Poorhouse, Dunshaughlin, was the fixture for Saturday. Hounds moved off sharp to time to beyond Batterstown, where a grand looking young stag was given his liberty.
When hounds were laid on they went away with a rousing chorus across the big pastures to Piper Hill, and leaving Pelletstown on the right crossed the high road at Cultrummer .
Hounds were in slight difficulties for a short space, but they ran smartly by Creemore fox covert to Bogganstown, from where they went to The Hatchet.
They went parallel to the road for a short distance until they reached the Ballymaglassan by-road, where they crossed, and went towards Coalistown, from where they bore away to the left, and going through Lynaghstown and Kilclune they reached Ballynare.
The hounds went through Blackhall, where the high road was re-crossed and they went by Rowanstown fox covert and Harlockstown to Baytown.
They quickly hit off the line down the river, and kept along it as they passed through Vesington and Wearenstown gorse to Cushenstown, and in across Court Hill farm to The Sheaf of Wheat Cross Roads, where the deer was safely housed some time before the arrival of the pack.
It was a grand hunt of about an hour and a half, and was quite sufficient for horses, as the country was terribly holding.