The hounds at Fowlescombe
The old kennel hounds at Fowlescombe have been used for both fox and deer hounds through the ages. They are now ruinous. Rumour has it that a kennel master suffered the unfortunate fate of being eaten by the hounds! The animals were kept hungry in preparation for a hunt the following day, but as they were making a great noise that night the kennel master went out to see what was wrong. In his haste he failed to put on his familiar hunt jacket. The next morning all that was found were his boots.
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The following extract shows how important the the kennels were at one time
| Then slowly o'er the heath and fern In deep content the hunters turn; But King, at Holne, would bid them stay To cheer them on their homeward way |
Mr John King of Fowlescombe 1826 - 1829
~ ~ ~ The country seemed to be without a regular pack for a season until
in 1827 John King of Fowlescombe re-established the pack under the name
of' Mr. King's Hounds'. Mr. King originally came from Fowlescombe, but
had one time lived at Holne as is shown by the lines to the left: |
 |
Mr. King hunted the South Devon country until 1929 when he moved to Hampshire and became Master of the Hambleton Hounds from 1829-1841. He died in the saddle whilst out with Mr. Trelawney's Hounds on Dartmoor in 1841. He was not the only hunting member of his family, for his nephew Thomas King, at one time kept a pack known as the South Devon Harriers. |
