The Hunt was not welcome on the Estate
Acknowledgement: Acknowledgements
When Mr Carder owned the estate the hunt was never allowed on the estate he believed that under no circumstance were a bunch of people most of which did not own land of their own going to ride across his land making a mess, plus disturbing the pheasants.
When Mr and Mrs Bayliss took over the estate the feelings were even more strong they both disliked organised shooting so hunting was a no no, we were told that we were to stop the hunt coming on Buildwas at all costs.
Pops had caught some of the hunt on the estate when I was quite young and had always said that after the run in with them it left you on a high after venting your feelings to someone who deserved it, mind you the horse and rider didn’t like it much when Pops was right behind them and I mean right behind on a Furguson tractor, each time the horse slowed down he revved the engine to add that little bit of urgency to the retreat.
The sounds of dogs
Years later I had been in the garden when Margaret said where was the sound of dogs coming from round the Farley road, it was obviously the hunt, the sound was coming from the Farley bank area on the road to Much Wenlock, Pops and myself jumped in the van to go and see where they were.
On reaching Lawless Cross we could see the hunt followers coming off the estate ground over the stone bridge to the road, the sound of the hound was still coming from further up the road, I dropped Pops of and carried on to the top of the Farley Bank (before the road was improved), at the top of the bank is a gate that was used for timber extraction, the horses were on the estate side of the gate with the hounds running up and down the main road, I parked the van and walked back to the gate there followed a verbal abuse from me to all riders on the estate land, it’s hard to remember just what I did say but there were swear words coming out that even I had never heard before ( I will not write them down either as most I can’t even spell), I think some of the young girls on ponies had never heard them either all they did was giggle.
I unlocked the gate and as each rider passed he or she was greeted by one expletive or another, after locking the gate I realised just what had I done, the hunt master was not going to let this pass without informing Mrs Bayliss, but as Pops had said it did feel good.
After seeing them all on their way to Wenlock I went back to see how Pops was getting on, he was having the same fun as me the followers had now all but one reached the road, all had been told in the same vocabulary that I had used what would happen if they set foot on Buildwas Park again.
One of the followers started talking to Pops, he said that if Stan Booth the last keeper we had had still been alive then he would have let the hunt on the land, he was then put in his place and was told that Stan Booth had no right to tell the hunt to come on the land further more if he had the result would have been the sack, the follower then told us that Stan Booth was one of the best keepers that we had had, “I went to his funeral and there were over 200 people there” Pop’s reply “ that’s because 175 were glad to see the back of him”. Then the old chap started to say that he could not see what all the fuss was about the hunt did no damage it was just the anti-hunt do gooders causing all the commotion, He then stated that it was the same as the miners (it was the time of the miners’ strike that killed off all the mines) on hearing this I turned away as I knew what was coming, Pops had worked at the Madeley Wood Colliery as a carpenter since he was a boy right till the time it closed, Pops was away again this time even Maggie Thatcher got a verbal beating.
After all this time the last of the followers had just reached the road, following the hunt on foot or should I say on crutches.
It was right I did feel on a high it took hours to settle down but the feeling was great, adrenaline I suppose.
A week later I received a phone call from Mrs Bayliss, she wanted to know what had happened with the hunt on that day, I told her what had happened and that once we got started it was hard to stop, she said that she had received a phone call from the master of the hunt Mr Tanner from Shrewsbury he wanted to complain about my behaviour, Stephanie asked him just what did Michael say, his reply “I would not repeat what he said over the phone to a lady as the words were not suitable for her to hear” “ go on please tell me” “ no I will not” Then Mr Tanner I can only think that Michael was just starting to get warmed up good buy.
We had done the right thing possibly a bit over the top with the language but it finished the hunt coming on Buildwas Park up till the time the estate was sold, then it didn’t matter.
Mrs Bayliss often said about that phone call and asked me just what I did say but as Mr Tanner had said I would not repeat them to a lady, Mrs Bayliss did write back to Mr Tanner in an official letter stating what the consequences would be if they ever set one hoof in the estate.
Mike Guy
Buildwas Park
