The Hare & Hounds

The Eton College Beagle Pack.

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There was a time that the Eton College Beagle pack would arrive at White Place Farm on a Saturday afternoon as guests of the Astor family to run the hounds over the farm and Widbrook Common after hares. This practice stopped when White Place Farm was sold to Ham River Gravel.

There has been another Beagle pack in the Cookham area in the early 1900's as my aunt Amy Field was awarded a hares foot mounted on a plaque for being the first at the scene of a kill. I am still invesigating whereabouts this pack was located.

Cookham Dean for many years was the home for a large pack of Stag Hounds. Hence the name of Kennel Lane in the Dean. Yes, stags roamed the countryside around Cookham. There is reference that royalty came to enjoy the hunt, as Windsor Forest did extend as far as the Cookham's. Of course one finds that hard to comphrehend when looking at the countryside today.