Nostalgia with Robert Heaven

ON BOXING day like many before it, according to the Countryside Alliance figures, about a quarter of million people would turn out to enjoy and take part in traditional Boxing day Hunts.

There are around 250 packs in the UK, and 58 of them meet on Boxing day; including the VWH in Cirencester.

VWH means “Vale of the White Heart”; a name I always associate with Cricklade rather than Cirencester; because before I knew much more, my late Grandfather used to drink in the hotel with a similar name in Cricklade.

I’ve recently discovered that apart from the hotel, Cricklade has long been associated with Cirencester via the VWH hunt.

The VWH Hunt which regularly meets at Cricklade and Cirencester, has a long history and once covered many Counties.

The Hunt was split several times and in 1832 the VWH hounds were moved from Faringdon to kennels at Cricklade.

In 1837 they were then at Cirencester Park in new kennels built for them by the 4th Earl Bathurst. In 1886 this all changed, and outgoing Master Mr Hoare, took his hounds back to Cricklade and the 6th Earl Bathurst established a new pack at his existing kennels in Cirencester Park.

The new Hunts became known as the VWH (Cricklade) and the VWH (Cirencester).

The packs were re-amalgamated in 1964. when Lord Bathurst expressed the hope that amalgamation would not mean the end of a great hunting country but would lay the foundations of a new country which would benefit future generations as well as the present”.

I've never ridden with the Hunt or seen what it does once it leaves the Park, but I do have endearing memories of the glorious spectacle on a cold frosty day in Cirencester Park.

I also have wonderful memories of the "Vale" in Cricklade where my Grandfather once imbibed with a pint and a pipe full of aromatic "ready rubbed" tobacco.